Local residents have been left baffled after finding piles of raw meat dumped across a British town.
Residents across the area of Reddish in Stockport, Greater Manchester, were left perplexed with the discovery.
Red meat, chicken legs, and even eggs have all been spotted across the area, with the odd sightings reported throughout last year.
Sightings have mostly come from around the Manchester Road Park area and Whitehill industrial estate, but also near the Heaton Moor train station.
Raw red meat was found
Joanna Williams
People are said to be very “distressed and worried” with the situation, unsure if there’s any poison in the meat and whether it could harm their dogs.
Residents have been helping the council in the clean-up process, clearing the meat away in bags that end up weighing as much as 20kg.
Those responsible for dumping the meat have not yet been found, but Joanna Williams, Labour candidate for Reddish South, believes it’s a business trying to “cut costs on legitimate disposal practices”.
The fact that the meat is left in large portions and cut, as well as often looking neatly prepared, suggests that it may be being dumped by someone with professional experience in the butchering or catering business.
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Locals are worried the meat could be poisoned
Joanna Williams
She said: “People are really worried about it, about whether there’s any poison in it and if it’s intended for dogs who might get sick if they eat it. It could be lots of people doing it for all sorts of different reasons.
“I put a call out on various social media groups a couple of weeks ago and have had a flurry of information from various members of the public which I have passed to the community support police offers at Reddish police station.
“It’s a very strange phenomenon and one which the community are finding very distressing and baffling but I’m not sure there’s a lot that the Police or council can do until somebody is caught in the act.
“My opinion, if I’m honest, is that it’s businesses cutting costs on legitimate disposal practices during the cost of living crisis and they may be unaware that what they doing is essentially fly tipping even though the product might be seen as biodegradable.”
Stockport Council said it is aware of the problem and has arranged for the discarded meat to be cleaned up when reported.
Liberal Democrat councillor Frankie Singleton, Stockport’s cabinet member for Communities, Culture and Sport said: “We have received no reports since before Christmas and have not heard of any dogs or other wildlife falling ill.”
She added that the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, as well as Natural England are also monitoring the situation.
