A Disgusting Poo Problem

Dog poo, doo doo or whatever you want to call it - is now a big problem in Waterford. Why do people insist on leaving their dogs droppings all over pathways where people walk, children go to school, tourists visit, prams are rolled and children play?

This is an issue that I highlighted on my Election Literature as one which, quite simply, must be tackled. I got an email today from Oliver Dempsey congratulating me on my election and saying nice things about this blog. I had a look at Olis' blog (http://www.olidempsey.blogspot.com/) and this is also an issue (among others) which Oli has an interest in solving.

It is also one of the issues that was raised by Voice of the Young earlier this year when they presented to the City Council. I promised the young people I would try to tackle the problem.

The first thing I must say is that primary responsibility rests with dog owners. The minority of the dog owners of Waterford who show, by their action in leaving their dogs poo on our paths, how little they give a s**t about the rest of us! (Quite literally). Let me say before I go any further that I know there are many responsible dog owners out there who would not dream of leaving this mess on our streets and are very quick and discreet in getting rid of 'it'.

My own son goes to Newtown Junior School on Passage Road where there was a very bad poo problem. I won't go into too much detail but suffice to say that new offerings were on the path every morning right outside the school gates - often in a condition to indicate that whatever the dog had eaten certainly didn't agree with him!

The school tackled the problem directly, but also subtly, with colurful and clear posters drawn and printed up by the children and placed profligately at eye level on every pole along the pathway with various obvious messages on everything from the health risks to the smell to the inconvenience! Whatever walker was responsible clearly got the message and the poo problem has cleared up for now. Although I suspect this might simply be due to the dogs' walking route being changed as opposed to the owner cleaning up after him as he or she should.

I have been wondering about solutions to this problem - and postering certianly did work in this case - when I came across the two photos (and many more similar) on the internet. It seems we are not the first to experience this problem! And we don't have to invent the solution either.

Signage exists - as do various deisgns of Pooper Scoop dispensers. I thought the one above was the neatest. It's from Singapore if you're interested.

This type of signage and dispensers must be placed liberally around our city particularly in the suburbs and along popular walking routes. At least then owners would have no excuse and members of the public might be less inclined to accept dogs pooing on our paths.

I intend to raise this issue at the City Council until some action is taken. After all, even if you put aside the visual and nasal effects (ew) - there are very serious health implications.