CSI: Poopy Puppy Division
The Seattle times today posted a story about our leash and pooper-scooper laws. According to the Times, an estimated 125,000 dogs live in Seattle, and in turn, these dogs dump approximately 41,250 pounds of poop onto the ground.
For those without a calculator handy (and you’re on a computer, so there’s one handy), that’s upwards of 15 million pounds annually. If only we could build condos out of this shit.
Of course, the problem isn’t the poop. It’s the placement. Despite the nominal threat of fines, poop still litters are streets and parks. Want a solution, switch to a bigger Times.
The New York Times ran an article on the city of Petah Tikva, a city near Tel Aviv. The mayor worked with the city director of veterinary services and created a system to establish a system able to DNA fingerprint the dog droppings left in public places. In order to so, they created a dog DNA registry of licensed dogs, and to convince citizens to take part, they rewarded dog owners who voluntarily registered their dogs.
The city placed specially created poop dispensers around the city, and paid city officials to sift through the properly-disposed-of excrement to find matches. When a registered dog’s poop was found in the bin, the owner received a prize.
Genius? Kind of. Once enough dog owners buy into the idea, it’s only a matter of time (and logical public policy) to start fining the owners of dogs whose DNA is found in piles on the street corners. And with an actual risk of getting caught, 100% of dog owners may start doing the right thing all the time.
While on some level, it’s very sad that we would need to create a publicly funded police force to encourage dog owners to always do the right thing, I think we’re there as a country. As a nation, and often as a city, our sense of entitlement and lack of accountability has created an incredibly irresponsible populace.
Pop back to the Seattle Times Article.
Apparently pooper-scooper laws are discussed in University of Washington law and economics classes. Professor Steve Calandrillo told the Seattle Times that irresponsible dog walkers who don’t pick up after their dogs are caught on average 1 out of 100 times.
This level of accountability turns a $54 ticket into a 54 cent per-pile fee. As someone who steers as far away from poop as I can, seems like a pretty good deal. Calandrillo suggests a fine closer to $500.
Which brings us to the conclusion: is it really that big of a deal?
Fecal landmines aside, the rainwater causes all of this poop to enter our waterways, streams, and eventually Puget Sound. The waste can contain such ickies as roundworm, E. coli and Giardia. Kind of detracts from the adorable wintertime images of kids eating snow off the ground, making snow angels, or even just playing in the yard.
David Ward, principal watershed Steward of Snohomish county, told the Seattle Times “Pet waste comes consistently to the top as one of the principal sources of contamination in urban waterways”.
I don’t know. Seems like a great way to provide jobs to our local unemployed geneticists. Let’s get some of that Obama stimulus money and put it to work.