A council has reassured members of the public after rumours circulated that dogs were being poisoned in the borough’s parks.

There have been reports on social media that a number of dogs had suffered poisoning and had died.

Blackburn with Darwen Council says a number of posters stating this have been attached to litterbins at Pleasington playing fields and at Witton Park.

The Council says it has looked into this issue extensively and has found no evidence for these claims.

Martin Eden, Director of Environment and Leisure at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said, “These allegations are not true, we have looked into this and have had no reports about dogs being killed, this is scaremongering and we would like to reassure dog owners that our parks are safe.”

A picture of a poster being circulated on social media claims that dogs have been poisoned and reads, “It does not take a genius to work out those responsible and yet again we have to turn a blind eye so we don’t hurt their feelings. They may not like dogs but this is no excuse for such callous behavior so they can play cricket.”