Litter in general, and beach litter especially, is a global issues we all need to be aware of. Our world is quickly filling up with trash, and it’s only going to get worse until we do something about it. There, unfortunately, will always be people who think it’s okay to leave behind a plastic bottle or toss a cigarette butt out the car window.
But at least we have a Labrador Retriever named Molly showing people how important it is to clean up.
Living in the picturesque beach town of Scarborough, UK, Molly is a local celebrity. Residents and tourists alike recognize the lovable Lab for the hard work she puts in to cleaning up the town’s beaches. In the two years that she’s been visiting the beaches, Molly has picked up over 250,000 pieces of beach litter. That’s a lot of trash!
It’s pretty normal to see a dog enjoying time at the beach. But watching a dog run around picking up litter is a completely different story. Fliss Cater, Molly’s mom, taught her pup this special skill as a fun way to help her town and the environment. As a local entrepreneur, Fliss felt a responsibility to keep her beloved beaches clean. And lucky for her, Molly is more than willing to help.
Fliss trained Molly to find discarded objects including beach toys, shoes, ropes, and plastic bottles.
The energetic dog runs from one end of the beach to the other looking for trash to bring back to mom. Every time they hit the sand, Molly and Fliss go home with a pile of trash people carelessly left behind.
Fliss told Mirror UK,
“I could probably fill a wheelie bin every week or two with what we collect.”
A lot of the litter Molly collects from the beach goes right into the trash, but Fliss also thinks of creative ways to reuse and recycle. For example, she saves all the buckets, spades, and beach toys for tourists to borrow and use. She also distributes a lot of the litter to local artists to be made into sculptures and other kinds of artwork.
Molly’s trash-collecting trips to the beach happen so often that people have started to recognize her. Fellow beach goers and passerby often stop and watch as the Lab sprints across the sand looking for anything that looks like litter. Not only is it good for the environment, it’s also a great game for Molly. She gets to be outside and exercise while working both her brain and her body.
Wherever Molly goes, Fliss is always nearby. The dedicated dog mom keeps a close eye on her pup, because she knows there might be glass or aluminum left discarded in the sand. Safety is her top priority, and Molly knows to always bring what she finds back to mom.
Fliss says Molly’s job is a race against time. People leave their trash on the beach, but it’s only a matter of time until that litter ends up in the ocean. Molly is enthusiastically doing her part to help, but she can’t do it alone. Fliss hopes that Molly’s story will help bring attention to the worldwide litter problem.
You can help Molly keep beaches clean by following her on Instagram!
How much do you know about Labrador Retrievers? Find out here.
