An “inspirational” Moray youngster who wants to keep animals safe from litter has delivered her environmentally friendly message to Holyrood.
Bronagh Dallas, from Elgin, patrols the area between her home and school every day collecting rubbish after learning of the harm it can cause wildlife.
Impressed with the eight-year-old’s efforts, environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful chose her to help launch a new anti-litter initiative in Edinburgh last week.
The New Elgin Primary School pupil spoke before Moray MSP Richard Lochhead, cabinet secretary for rural affairs, food and environment, and top charity officials.
Bronagh said: “I was a little nervous before giving the speech but I think I did quite well.
“People should take more care about litter because wildlife can be hurt.
“I first started collecting rubbish when a lady from the Scottish SPCA came to my school and told us about a hedgehog that almost died after being caught in a plastic bag that was thrown away.
“Hearing about that made me really upset, and now every day I fill up a bin bag with litter.
“Litter can really harm animals – even a crisp packet could hurt a cow badly if it eats it.
“I once found a snail trapped in a can but managed to get it out.”
Every day on her walk to school Bronagh puts on rubber gloves and fills a bag with rubbish on her walk.
Now she has enlisted some school friends to form a litter-picking club and help her on her rounds.
MSP Richard Lochhead said: “People like Bronagh Dallas are an inspiration to us all, highlighting that everyone can take responsibility for litter.”
During its event this week Keep Scotland Beautiful announced a new scheme entitled #2MinuteCleanUp.
The group is encouraging people who don’t have the time to participate in clean-up projects to simply spend two minutes while walking to school or work removing litter from the streets.
The Clean Up Scotland campaign, which launched in 2012, has seen over 500,000 individual clean-up actions, collecting more than 5,000 tonnes of rubbish.