A woman says she now feels ‘afraid’ to walk in her own suburb after a neighbour posted CCTV footage that showed her putting dog poo in his bin.
The footage, captured on a security camera in Khandallah, Wellington, showed the woman walking her dogs just after 9.30am on Wednesday.
She was seen placing a bag containing the dog poo into a yellow recycling bin before she continued on her walk.
The irate homeowner shared the footage on YouTube and a local Facebook group and criticised her actions.
‘Very uncool to put your doggy bags into the yellow recycling bin,’ the post read.
‘I’ve seen it happen a couple of times now. Hard-working recycling staff have to handle it, and it contaminates the collection.
‘Great that you pick up the dog s**t, but don’t be lazy – take it home or find a proper rubbish bin.’
The dog owner told Daily Mail that she deeply regrets her mistake, but wished the homeowner had confronted her directly instead of publicly shaming her on Facebook.
The post has sparked significant backlash from locals after receiving more than 10,000 views. The woman now claims her she feels unsafe in her community.
She explained that, in an effort to do the right thing, she put the dog poo in the nearest bin rather than leaving it on the road, where it could have ended up on someone’s shoe.
She said she had ‘other things on her mind’ and didn’t realise the bin was for recycling, claiming it was simply an honest mistake.
‘I would’ve been happy to apologise but instead they went and shamed me in front of the whole neighbourhood,’ she said.
Comments under the post described her as ‘lazy’ and the kind of owner who ‘don’t watch their dogs and let them s**t anywhere they like’.
However other locals jumped to her defence.
‘I really hate people posting videos of others. You have no idea of the impact it might have on them.
‘Be kind and not judgy, it’s not the end of the world you know.’
The dog walker said comments under the post were ‘getting completely out of hand’ for an act she ‘genuinely regrets’.
‘The harassment I received after it was shared online was shocking,’ she said.
‘And now I’m afraid to go for a walk in my own neighbourhood.’
The woman said a ‘Karen-style’ culture has taken over the community, with people choosing to shame others on Facebook instead of addressing issues directly.
‘Grown men like this need to mature. Instead of acting like the neighborhood police and shaming me on Facebook, they should have confronted me directly as we live nearby. They know who I am because I walk that route every day.’
The woman said that she plans to apologise to him face-to-face.
Daily Mail contacted the neighbour who posted the video for comment.