“Harry Potter”: Leaving the socks on Dobby’s grave endangers the beach where the film was shot

Dobby is probably one of the most beloved characters of “Harry Potter” fans. This long-awaited house elf died in the penultimate film of the saga, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”, and the location chosen for his final scene was the beautiful beach of Freshwater West (Wales). Since then, fans from all over the world have flocked to the site of a tomb they created themselves, leaving stones on the beach to turn a space into a veritable homage to Dobby. Now this is becoming a environmental problem for the beach, as the monument to the elf has not stopped growing and houses objects that are harmful to the natural environment, such as the collection of socks that fans leave in honor of the character.

In the novels, Dobby dies in the arms of the protagonist wizard and tells him that the beach is there “a very nice place to be with friends”. For this reason the film crew chose this wide and beautiful beach to film the moment of his death. Fans of the saga have erected their own tomb there dedicated to the elf and many were leaving socks in the form of homage to the character, ever since he was released from his slavery to the Malfoys through a sockobject that will be chosen by Dobby as his favorite gift to free him from oppression.

This accumulation of socks at the elf monument has become a serious environmental problem for Freshwater West beach, as too many have accumulated. Then, reports the New York Times, environmental officials from the conservation charity, the National Trust Wales, undertook an eight-month review of the site. Eventually, they let the monument continue to stand, but issued a warning to fans on the matter: take pictures, but don’t leave socks anymore.

Does Dobby’s grave really exist and people visit it and leave us socks ??? #Harry Potter pic.twitter.com/xR4834T5Z0

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“The Dobby memorial will remain in Freshwater West for the foreseeable future for people’s enjoyment. The Trust asks visitors to take pictures only when they visit the monument to protect the vast landscape. “warned the National Trust Wales organization.

A danger to nature

These practices are very common, when a place becomes very popular for a movie or series, thousands of fans soon go there and this generates benefits for the site in question, such as promoting local commerce, and at the same time inconvenience, such as tourism and the pollution it generates. The National Trust Wales explained in its review results that “Items such as socks, costume jewelery and painted pebble fragments could enter the marine environment and food chain, putting wildlife at risk.”

Furthermore, in their statement they added: “Yes, OK we are glad that so many people want to visit us, we have to balance the popularity of the site with the impact on nature sensitive to the beach and the environment in general, and to the pressure on the surrounding structures and roads “reasoned Jonathan Hughes, one of the National Trust Wales officials.