Moment dog is caught fly-tipping after owner ‘trained’ pet to do their dirty work

Unbelievable CCTV footage captures the pet strolling along a road with a bag of rubbish in it mouth before dropping it – the incident happened two nights in a row

A cheeky pup has been caught red-pawed seemingly dumping rubbish illegally on the streets in the dead of night.

Shocking CCTV footage shows the pooch strutting on a road in Catania’s San Giorgio district in Sicily carrying a full bag of trash in its mouth. It then drops the bag neatly on the roadside.

But this wasn’t just a one-off – the same dog was spotted doing exactly the same the next night. Local authorities say the clip “leaves little room for doubt” that the clever animal was trained to do the dirty work, letting its owner fly-tip without fear of being filmed.

“Ingenuity can never become an alibi for incivility,” the municipality of Catania said in a Facebook post.

It went on: “A scene that leaves little room for doubt: the animal is believed to have been trained to prevent the owner from being filmed while illegally abandoning the trash.

“A behaviour that is as ‘clever’ as it is doubly wrong, because in addition to dirtying the city it attempts to evade the rules by exploiting an unwitting four-legged friend.”

Fly-tipping is illegal in Italy, but still a common headache. Officials emphasised that respect for the city and environment is everyone’s duty.

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However, social media users weren’t so convinced by the explanation that the dog had been trained to fly-tip.

One wrote: “It could be… but I think it’s simply a dog that stole a bag in which it smelled some food,” with another wryly adding: “It’s a poor hungry little dog stealing rubbish to look for something to eat… elementary, Watson.”

A third commented: “So Catania is an open-air rubbish dump and you thought it was a good idea to focus attention on a poor dog, probably hungry and stray, carrying a bag of garbage it found who knows where just to look for some food? Are you serious?”

While a fourth fumed: “Doesn’t it occur to you that it’s a stray looking for food in the rubbish? In Librino you see strays moving rubbish bags aside and hiding to look for something to eat. Make a video about dealing with those strays too – it’s the municipality’s job to handle them. Start fining the people who abandon them like rubbish.”

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