Creetown residents are raging after gloves and face masks were dumped round the village.
The discarded items were found strewn about four locations.
The discoveries prompted a furious reaction from locals worried about possible coronavirus contamination.
Val Nichol binned gloves and masks lying on the cycle path alongside the A75.
She said: “I think it’s disgusting, especially when there’s folk going behind them to pick them up.
“You have got to worry about cross-contamination. There could be weans going along that bike route.”
Hazel Sisi found six gloves and a face mask littering the same path towards Carsluith.
She said: “I was out on my permitted daily exercise walk and I picked them up on the way back.
“It was quite strange. They were all single gloves and then I found the face mask.
“I had my gloves on, my hand sanitiser and I sterilised my hands, phone and even the dog lead afterwards.”
Hazel, a health care support worker, added: “The pandemic has not peaked yet and people doing things like this is not on.
“It’s not good hygiene and not good practice.
“They should be disposing of the gloves correctly.”
Amanda Maxwell, a bottler at the Whisky Broker in the village, found a bag of gloves and face masks on her daily run.
The bag had burst open and was dumped a mile outside Creetown on the road to Rusko and Gatehouse.
Amanda, 41, said: “Why would somebody do that? There could be anything on those gloves. That’s why I would not pick it up. I would be too afraid.”
She added: “If the person had been at somebody’s house they could have disposed of them in the bin. Don’t just get in the car and throw it out the window.”
Local farmer Richard Oxley found protective gloves scattered in a lay-by at a field where his ewes are lambing.
He said: “I found at least six pairs and a whole pile of baby wipes.
“You don’t know where they have been or what they have on them. Those gloves could have been contaminated.
“It doesn’t take much to put them in a bin.”
He added: “We are lucky because we have gloves for the lambing and I picked them up.
“If there’s people stopping in the lay-by I’ll be looking to see if they have dumped anything.”
