A man is offering a £500 reward for anyone who can identify fly-tippers of a pile of refuse around which his dog was injured.

Peter Tizzard, 78, of Lydwell Close, was walking his dogs near the West Stafford bypass on Tuesday when he encountered a pile of fly-tipped materials, which included scrap metal.

One of his dogs, which had rushed past, stepped on an unidentified object near the pile and severely injured its paw.

Mr Tizzard said: “Someone had tipped this load of rubbish, and I didn’t realise at the time because they had gone past it.

“I didn’t hear them yelp or anything, but I looked down and blood was just pouring out of the dog’s left leg.”

The dog’s paw was split down the middle and had to be clipped back together by the vet.

He is now offering a reward of £500 to anyone who can find the person or people responsible for the fly tipping.

He also calls upon the local authorities to do more about the problem.

“It doesn’t matter where you seem to go, if there’s a little quiet track people seem to be just dumping it.”

The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) has declared its commitment to tackling the problem of fly tipping.

Karyn Punchard, Director of Dorset Waste Partnership said: “The Dorset Waste Partnership encourages residents to report fly tipping online via www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/flytipping or by calling Dorset Direct on 01305 221040.

“We can then accurately record the exact location of the fly tip and arrange for the fly tip to be cleared if it’s on public land.

“Landowners are responsible for clearing fly tips on private land, but the DWP will help to investigate fly tips on private land if there’s sufficient evidence.

“We can confirm that the DWP have visited a large fly tip in the West Stafford area, and are working to clear this as soon as possible.”

The DWP enforcement team have carried out 336 fly tipping investigations in the last year, which led to 15 cases of informal advice, 257 written warnings, 41 fixed penalty notices and 6 prosecutions.

Karyn Punchard adds: “Our Tip-Off campaign aims to address the problems around people handing their waste to an unlicensed ‘man in a van’ and what Dorset residents can do to help us in the fight against this illegal and anti-social behaviour.”

Anyone caught fly tipping can be prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Fly tipping can be reported to Dorset Council at www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/flytipping or on 01305 221040.

Further information about the Tip-Off campaign can be found at www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/tip-off.