Dog Shit and Litter
I was speaking to Sean the other day and he mentioned that his local park doesn’t allow dogs even on a leash. Locally around here there are signs warning about £1000 fines if you don’t clean up after your dog. It seems that people aren’t that keen on dogs and their mess!
It may seem unrelated but I went out for a run today. Yes I do that to try and keep fit! No I didn’t see loads of dog faeces but I did see loads of litter. I passed tons of the stuff. There were discarded McDonalds cups and bags, plastic bags full of litter, Christmas crackers, lumps of polystyrene, and even old clothing. All this was along the side of the road in the grass verge looking like it had been discarded from the passing cars.
Now I know dog poo isn’t nice, nobody wants to stand in it, it shouldn’t be left in the middle of the pavement, and you should clean it up, but at least it is biodegradable and won’t be here in a few weeks never mind the hundreds of years some of the other litter will be with us for.
It’s a shame the same effort that has been put in to the dog mess problem hasn’t been put into the litter problem!
Nobody seems to care as long as they don’t step in it!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Opinion, Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Funny you mention this.
As a dog owner, when I walk my dog, I always carry plastic bags with me to pick up the poop. Most caring dog owners do this as it’s just good practice and respectful.
What gets me is like you mention how humans leave trash all the time, toss things out car windows, etc and no one seems to get on them but if my dog poops and I immediately pick it up, what’s the issue?
My local park is huge… lots of space for dogs and humans to run and play but guess what? Almost never any people at the park.
If they allowed dogs, even for a small fee, I think it would get used. It makes me mad that my tax dollars go to paying for a park and I can’t enjoy it with mans best friend, my dog.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 am
Sean,
In my local area we have parks which have these dog poo bag dispensers! They are free to use by the public and get refilled by our council. Perhaps it’s something you could suggest to your council?
Cheers,
Tom
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
The thought of a dog poo dispenser, hehe
I have 2, they run about on 4 legs
February 4th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I think the council should be more preocupied of garbage. Since the penalties for dogs poop are so big, why wouldn’t be for plastic bags, cups and cigarettes? There is the same problem in my city.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
The difference between rubbish (cups paper plastic etc) and dog mess is that the rubbish will not cause you to become blind or for a pregnant mother to risk losing her baby!
Roundworms (Toxocara canis) shed their eggs when your dog defecates.
These can remain present in the ground for up to THREE YEARS and can infect other dogs and humans.
Young children can pick up the infection easily through direct contact with ground that has been contaminated (long after the mess itself has degraded!), or by contact with objects that have passed through contaminated land such as push-chairs.
Therefore the ‘fine’ for putting a person’s health at risk is proportionate to the offence.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 am
Hi all !!
I think nobody have had visited INDIA, you all speaking about how to make the environment clean from dog’s poops, here even the ugly humans are doing the shit.. (even though it is shame to say this, I want to tell you the truth & be honest)
Comparatively better in your nation, not like INDIA. Hence your nation is developing a lot because of this kind of respectful behavior & obedience, am jealous over you all in this case ….
April 4th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Hello.
In New Zealand the dogs and People shit were they like, when we go for a walk we have to lookout and see that we Dont step in it.
When I have to go when I am out, I find that some people cant do it in the right place in the men’s room.
F.k