A Rant...Pick up your dog poo!

Ok..so you know by now that during the week we live an apartment complex in Jacksonville, FL. It's well maintained, if a little old and the maintenance guys clear rubbish up every morning, so at first glance you'd say it looked pretty clean for a big developement. A closer look however reveals tons and tons of dog poo that people don't pick up.

Gary has a Bag on Board attached to his lead, with bio degradable bags, however I've only seen one other owner picking up after their pet here, and there are lots of dogs.

It's disgusting, especially during the hot humid days where it really starts to smell in certain areas - the stinkiest area near us ( about 500 ft away) has a sign that says to pick up dog poo...Ha! Huge big dollops everywhere...we don't walk there anymore..

I wondered what I could do to encourage people to pick up..I'd love to post something in everyone's mailbox that tells them that pet waste left on the ground, especially near streets and sidewalks, gets washed into storm drains and drainage ditches which flow to the local waterway. This water does not get cleaned or treated along the way, so anything that goes into the storm drain or ditch goes into the water. Bacteria, parasites, and viruses found in pet waste can be harmful to water quality and human health.

These offending dog owner's dogs (including Gary) are probably walking in the old poo and picking up bacteria, and if the owners cannot be bothered to pick up, then it's likely that they have not had their dogs wormed etc...my dog is picking up your dog's bacteria...thanks for that.

I love this North Carolina postcard which people are sent and encouraged to post in places of interest (vet clinics, animal shelters, and other sites) ...I'd like to post on some people's heads around here!

It seems in some places (Boulder) you can get people to pick up, then they leave the bags! You've done the hard part people, throw it in the trash...



I'm going to approach the management to ask them to include something in next months flyer and ask them to consider putting up some more dog poo bag stands (say that quickly when you've had a few !!) I only know of one and this site is enormous.



I'll let you know how I go!