Every season, you can step in dog mess on the pavements. Municipal pavements look particularly disgusting when the thaw begins. In winter, snow covers everything. In bitter frost, owners rarely feel like taking their dogs for long walks. When a dog needs to be taken out to do its business, people go onto the pavement outside their homes. And in a moment, the frozen droppings will be covered with a lovely, fluffy blanket of snow. Bitter winter lasted throughout December this year. During the thaw, the pavements reveal a month’s worth of waste produced by all the local pets.
The problem of dog waste is disgusting and only seemingly simple. It would be enough for owners to clean up after their dogs. There are about 30 special red rubbish bins in the city intended for dog waste. In spring, there will also be special green stations.
– The red bins are located in parks, housing estates and green areas – informs Grażyna Strzyżewska, head of the Municipal Department at the City Hall. – An additional 15 green stations for collecting dog waste have been purchased. They are containers supplied with bags that can be taken to clean up after a dog. If they prove successful, another fifteen are planned to be purchased. A plan for locating these stations, called “Map on Dog Paws”, is currently being developed. The stations will be placed around the city in spring.
Some dog owners believe that there are too few bins. But walking, for example, along gen. Bema Street towards a special container, one passes dog waste every half-metre. On an internet forum, users are calling for severe punishment of owners who do not clean up after their pets.
A resolution of the City Council precisely defines the duties of people who keep domestic animals. Above all, owners are required to clean up contamination caused by animals in public-use areas or rooms intended for common use. It is also prohibited to bring animals onto children’s playgrounds. The resolution requires owners to care for their animals in such a way that they do not cause inconvenience to other people. Compliance with the resolution is supervised mainly by the municipal police.
– The problem with punishing dog owners for failing to clean up waste is that a municipal police officer must be an eyewitness to the offence – explains commander Emil Zając. – When someone calls us to say that they saw a neighbour who did not clean up after a dog, we accept the report. However, we can impose a penalty only if the witness reporting the offence gives a written statement and is willing to confirm it in court. And that discourages people.
No one wants to go to court because of dog mess. And when there is no eyewitness testimony, the owner (not caught red-handed by the officers) denies that the waste belongs to their Azorek. “Our only option would be to examine the mess in a laboratory, but that would be absurd,” jokes Emil Zając. “On the other hand, I know, because my officers tell me, that when the owner of a dog defecating on the pavement notices an officer, they can collect the waste in a tissue,” he adds. The fine for failing to clean up after a dog is between 50 and 100 zlotys.
During talks organised in schools, officers discuss the obligation to clean up after one’s dogs. The Animal Aid Association also called for provisions on such education and for city budget funds to be allocated to it. This seems to be the only path towards clean pavements – especially when neither the provisions of the resolution, nor fines for violating it, nor special bins placed around the city help. Developing new habits is a long and difficult road. In this case, it is a road through dog mess.
(information by Grażyna Hanaf)