La. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries working to combat litter and dumping

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Recent headlines have been filled with arrests and police activity surrounding illegal dumping.

Moving New Orleans Forward Anchor LBJ spoke with Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials about combating the problem statewide on how they’ve stepped up the fight.

“This debris can clog up our drainage systems. They also clog up the natural drainage around our wetlands. Wildlife can get entangled, injured, hurt in the debris itself. It’s an all around problem,” said Lt. Thomas Wolf.

The agency has long fought the issue across the state and Wolf says not just in parks and waterways.

“No, not at all. Litter has been on our radar all along. All over the state. We’re trying to fight it and it doesn’t matter where it is. If we’ve got litter, we’re going after it,” said Wolf.

Attesting to that are video clips from across the state. Each of the cases have been prosecuted and according to Wolf, residents have pitched in to help.

“The people play a big part in this. We get a lot of tips from the public. The public sometimes sees people dumping trucks dumping and they snap photos and send them to us. We get tips from the public workers who are out there doing things and a lot of different agencies are also getting involved,” said Wolfe.

Among those agencies is the New Orleans Police Department. It’s a welcome sign that the efforts are working and people who violate will face hefty consequences.

“We have our gross littering charges when we deal with construction debris or hazardous materials, tire dumps. Now we have some DEQ charges that carry a more severe penalty than gross littering as well,’ said Wolfe.

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