- Sep 6, 2000
- 25,383
- 1,013
- 126
Sundae, anyone?
Spring in Anchorage brings piles of dog poop that emerge before the daffodils do, foul shoe bombs that spread disease, attract flies and foul waterways.
This spring, municipal officials say, they'll consider anything and everything to get dog owners to clean up after their pets.
Even putting peanut butter on the piles they leave behind.
"Somebody makes a peanut butter dispenser that puts a dab on the stuff," said Jim Posey, city parks director. "You only have to do it for a short period of time because when everybody realizes what their dog is really eating there out in the bushes, there's that camaraderieship, I-like-my-dog-to-lick-me-in-the-face thing."
The nutty idea is something Posey heard about third-hand. But at least one city in the Lower 48 -- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho -- found the peanut butter principle worked, he said.
The peanut butter really isn't Posey's point. The city just wants to do whatever it can to get dog owners more vigilant in picking up their pets' piles.
Other options could include posting enforcers in parks to remind dog owners to pick up. The city already puts signs and provides bags in popular dog-walking spots like Westchester Lagoon.
A municipal ordinance requires pet owners to scoop up after their pets, both at home and in public places. Dog owners can be fined up to $100 by Animal Control or Anchorage police if they don't pick up after their dogs.
Roughly 50,900 dogs roam the municipality, the city estimates. Each produces an average of three-quarters of a pound of waste each day. That adds up to more than 266,000 pounds a week -- more than 130 tons.
Dog groups agree something needs to be done.
But they pan the peanut butter idea.
"Who's going to put the peanut butter on the dog poop?" asked Bob Brock, a local skijorer who runs his German short-hair pointers on local trails. "Are we going to have a ministry of dog poop?"
Dogs can also pick up parasites and diseases from eating fecal matter, says Kirsten Ballard, president of the Anchorage skijor club. "Some of 'em are already tootsie-crunchers as it is. We're trying to break that habit."
Ballard suggests that a better use of taxpayer dollars would be resurrecting some humorous public safety announcements that Brock and government officials made with Sourdough Mike McDonald a few years ago. Or adding trash cans along well-used dog routes, such as at ball fields and schools.
The best solution to the problem is the simplest one, all sides agree: If you own a dog, carry a bag and maybe a fanny pack and pick up the poop.
Helen Taft, a retiree who lives in the Bayshore area, collected about 72 gallons of dog doo on the citywide Scoop the Poop day in late April. She tries to clean up her neighborhood on her daily walks.
Her husband keeps threatening to buy her a hat that says "Poop Police."
"I've always been embarrassed for the people and ashamed of the way our city looks," Taft said. "It is a shame. However, I think cleaning up is catching on a little bit. Yesterday I saw two ladies with their big dogs, and they had bags. I stopped and complimented each one of them."
Reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached at zhollander@adn.com or 907 257-4591.
Spring in Anchorage brings piles of dog poop that emerge before the daffodils do, foul shoe bombs that spread disease, attract flies and foul waterways.
This spring, municipal officials say, they'll consider anything and everything to get dog owners to clean up after their pets.
Even putting peanut butter on the piles they leave behind.
"Somebody makes a peanut butter dispenser that puts a dab on the stuff," said Jim Posey, city parks director. "You only have to do it for a short period of time because when everybody realizes what their dog is really eating there out in the bushes, there's that camaraderieship, I-like-my-dog-to-lick-me-in-the-face thing."
The nutty idea is something Posey heard about third-hand. But at least one city in the Lower 48 -- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho -- found the peanut butter principle worked, he said.
The peanut butter really isn't Posey's point. The city just wants to do whatever it can to get dog owners more vigilant in picking up their pets' piles.
Other options could include posting enforcers in parks to remind dog owners to pick up. The city already puts signs and provides bags in popular dog-walking spots like Westchester Lagoon.
A municipal ordinance requires pet owners to scoop up after their pets, both at home and in public places. Dog owners can be fined up to $100 by Animal Control or Anchorage police if they don't pick up after their dogs.
Roughly 50,900 dogs roam the municipality, the city estimates. Each produces an average of three-quarters of a pound of waste each day. That adds up to more than 266,000 pounds a week -- more than 130 tons.
Dog groups agree something needs to be done.
But they pan the peanut butter idea.
"Who's going to put the peanut butter on the dog poop?" asked Bob Brock, a local skijorer who runs his German short-hair pointers on local trails. "Are we going to have a ministry of dog poop?"
Dogs can also pick up parasites and diseases from eating fecal matter, says Kirsten Ballard, president of the Anchorage skijor club. "Some of 'em are already tootsie-crunchers as it is. We're trying to break that habit."
Ballard suggests that a better use of taxpayer dollars would be resurrecting some humorous public safety announcements that Brock and government officials made with Sourdough Mike McDonald a few years ago. Or adding trash cans along well-used dog routes, such as at ball fields and schools.
The best solution to the problem is the simplest one, all sides agree: If you own a dog, carry a bag and maybe a fanny pack and pick up the poop.
Helen Taft, a retiree who lives in the Bayshore area, collected about 72 gallons of dog doo on the citywide Scoop the Poop day in late April. She tries to clean up her neighborhood on her daily walks.
Her husband keeps threatening to buy her a hat that says "Poop Police."
"I've always been embarrassed for the people and ashamed of the way our city looks," Taft said. "It is a shame. However, I think cleaning up is catching on a little bit. Yesterday I saw two ladies with their big dogs, and they had bags. I stopped and complimented each one of them."
Reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached at zhollander@adn.com or 907 257-4591.
Facebook
Twitter