As a result of community feedback on my last playground post, Amores Perros, I contacted Seattle Parks and Recreation with our request for a MuttMitt dispenser for Wallingford Playfield. I’ve been informed by a communications manager that due to budget cuts, the Parks Department will not be able to accomodate all requests as they have in the past, but he has put it to the attention of the grounds supervisor so it is now officially under consideration.
I’ll provide an update once I get word of the decision. Until then, thanks to all for your care and concern for our little gem of a park.
Hi Sharon
A little park history – there used to be poop bag dispensers at two of the entrances to the park provided, I believe, by a dog advocacy group. The dispensers were removed by Parks when some dog owners used them as an endorsement for running their dogs off-leash at the park. Parks realized that they were presenting a mixed message with signs posted in the park stating it was against the law to have dogs in the park, but then had dispensers essentially stating “here are some bags for the dogs that are not supposed to be here”.
There was also a huge problem with the trash receptacles being 50% poop, which stunk to high heaven in the warmer weather and created a health issue for Parks employees collecting the trash. Poop in the trash from a single animal at home is a lot different than poop from several hundred dogs in the trash at the park. FoWP ran several public service announcements trying to get dog owners to please “pack it in, pack it out” with mixed results. Most responsible dog owners understood and took the extra step.
The “scoop law” requires that dog owners carry a poop bag with them when they walk their animal, subject to a $54 citation if they are caught without “equipment for removing feces”. They are also required to take the poop with them when they leave a public area. This seems common courtesy for anyone electing to own a pet in an urban environment. Similarly one should not be dumping dirty diapers in the trash at the park either.
Food for thought (sorry for any unpleasant imagery): An EPA study in 1993 found that two to three days of droppings from a population of 100 dogs generated enough bacteria and nutrients to temporarily close a bay to swimming and shellfishing. Another study in Seattle found that 20% of the bacteria found in the watershed originated from dog feces.
Spread the poop around. Please take it home with you and dispose of it in your own trash. Keep our park safe for all to use. And please consider using a biodegradable baggie. It makes no sense to “Saran Wrap” your pets feces permanently for posterity.
Are you kidding me? That sounds like BS to me! Dogs aren’t allowed in the kids areas of Seattle public parks…are people really so absurd to think that we shouldn’t be allowed to walk our dogs in the park? Do you know how many people in Seattle own dogs? Do you know that we pay taxes for the up keep of parks too? We have the right to use them! Maybe not off-leash but lets get real…I live next to the park and all those Frisbee players who tear up the field on a quiet Sunday afternoon annoy the hell out of me…do I want to keep them from enjoying the park because of the damage they do to the field? No. It amazes me how dog shit phobic you people are when there are urban campers and drug users in the parks who leave needles, human feces and broken bottles behind.
food for thought: http://citycomfortsblog.typepad.com/cities/2004/12/ok_i_am_convinc.html
It was a typo . . .
>>Parks realized that they were presenting a mixed message with signs posted in the park stating it was against the law to have [off-leash] dogs in the park, <<
Pardon me for the expedient typo. The signs stated it was illegal to have dogs (on or off leash) in the playground area and athletic fields or off-leash anywhere. It really is not a big deal to clean up after your pet. Comes with responsible ownership.
If you see groups using the field when it is posted as closed (as it is now), please ask them to stop. Most will comply when it is explained that they are making the field less useful for everyone later in the year. It is also trespassing and Parks policy is to call the police. Seems we can accomplish better by policing ourselves. Come on people, it isn’t that difficult to have a little empathy about how your actions impact others.
I always wondered about that. The signs say ‘no dogs in the park’, but I figured it was only in the playground area, not the open field. I can see how it could be seen as a ‘mixed message’, but the two parks that I’ve been to that have bag dispensers (Crossroads in Bellevue and Medina) were really well maintained and poop free. I’ve never been to a more poop filled park than Wallingford. I’m with you Greg, I think people should be responsible and pick up after their pets. I watched a man at Meridian park last summer, let his dog run off leash, get in a fight w/another dog and leave a huge pile of poop on the grass….all while the owner was chatting w/another person. So irritating.
I’m not a ‘dog shit phobic’….I picked up dog feces for two years while walking strays at the KC animal shelter in Bellevue…I just HATE stepping in it or worse yet, having my toddler step in it. You can’t compare the conditions at a homeless camp to a public park…most responsible parents wouldn’t let their children run or play at tent city. I’m all for bathrooms being open for everyone, free clean needle exchanges and free urban rest stops so folks can wash their clothes and take warm showers.
p.s. Thank you so much Sharon for contacting Seattle Parks and Rec. You’re awesome!!!
I made many a comment in the previous link (see link to previous blog posting above) about this issue.
Bags are really just a stop gap and marginal solution, to address the problem in serious way you have to address the dog population increase in our neighborhood, I love animals, but when it reaches the volumes we now have in Wallingford- you have problems, and if the trend holds it is only going to get worse.
To me this is an amazingly emotional issues (because of the emotional connection to a pet) and thus it is hard to have a serious policy discussion, but bags and dog parts are not the issue, it is a volume issue, very similar to the Parking issues we had 30 years ago in the neighborhood that only arose when families moved from one car families to two car families.
You have to do something to keep a reasonable dog population
Please don’t jump on me until you have read some of the discussion in the previous posting, just my 2 cents.
I love Rutabaga’s remark “Do you know that we pay taxes for the up keep of parks too? We have the right to use them! ”
Given that dogs are invariably dependents, I look forward to his/her insistence on Income Tax exemptions for those pets.
You can certainly tell in these comments who has dogs and who doesn’t, who is an animal lover and who isn’t. I have a dog, and pick up after my dog. My dog makes me very happy.
@ Trev – if I don’t have kids, am I ‘allowed’ to have a dog? After all, kids make poop too (and probably more of it), it’s just treated differently. Maybe you should be pushing for the creation of a flushable dog poop bag instead of saying the number of dogs should be restricted. In the end, both people and dogs cause changes to the environment, and people are the source of far more drastic changes than the dogs in Wallingford.
I think I’m going to go back to just reading the posts and skipping the comments.
lynn
Did you read the previous comment page, if not, dogs
are not equal to people. It somewhat stamps out serious discussion
when someone says that.
I love dogs. I would love to own a dog if it just were not so much darn work to own one in the city. I have my hands full with my (other) kids and choose not to take on another. Others may choose to take on the extra responsibility. No problemo.
My initial post was intended only to note that Parks removed the dispensers ten years ago because it felt it sent a mixed message to have a sign saying “No dogs in the playground” with a poop bag dispenser right next to it.
Less than 3 out of 10 dogs in Seattle are licensed. A user fee to create more dog parks will simply not work at that low of a participation rate. To our benefit, zip 98103 reportedly has one of the higher licensing rates in the city.
Off-leash dogs destroy the field in the winter, when it is closed for all users, dogs included. Citizens for Off Leash Areas encourages every dog owner to respect the law by licensing their pet, using the designated off-leash areas and scooping after their pet. This might not always be convenient, but it is not difficult to do.
Open space in the city is extremely limited. We must learn to share and understand how our uses impact others and strive to reduce that impact whenever we can. Overuse, or untimely use, turns a park into a consumable resource. Keep parks a renewable resource by honoring field closure rules, they apply to human and four-footed friends alike.
I think what made me so mad was the EPA thing, which is taken totally out of context and further, the idea that dog ownership should be limited. In a city which allows chickens and goats I don’t think you’re going to get far with that. Your feelings about the dogs off leash and the poo are totally valid, I pick up my dogs poo and they don’t get to go off leash, but this is a democracy and you, sir, are severely outnumbered.
Pick up dog poop? As Joel Stein said, “I don’t even know a woman I’d do that for.”
Rutabaga — 40 years ago if you told the average person that someday you would be “picking” up dog poop, that parking would be an issues or we would be on the verge of having domestic partnerships, they would not be able to consider it, but some may have actually seen it coming and those are type of people that now see environmental issues of dog poop, and dog licensing, regulation and population control. I consider myself a voice of future, please don’t try to end a healthy discussion.
The complete reference:
“Animal waste collection as a pollution source control involves using a combination of educational outreach and enforcement to encourage residents to clean up after their pets. The presence of pet waste in stormwater runoff has a number of implications for urban stream water quality with perhaps the greatest impact from fecal bacteria (for more information see Microbes in Urban Watersheds: Concentrations, Sources and Pathways, Article 17 in The Practice of Watershed Protection). According to recent research, non-human waste represents a significant source of bacterial contamination in urban watersheds. Genetic studies by Alderiso et al. (1996) and Trial et al. (1993) both concluded that 95 percent of the fecal coliform found in urban stormwater was of non-human origin. Bacterial source tracking studies in a watershed in the Seattle, Washington area also found that nearly 20% of the bacteria isolates that could be matched with host animals were matched with dogs. This bacteria can pose health risks to humans and other animals, and result in the spread of disease. It has been estimated that for watersheds of up to twenty-square miles draining to small coastal bays, two to three days of droppings from a population of about 100 dogs would contribute enough bacteria and nutrients to temporarily close a bay to swimming and shellfishing (US EPA, 1993).”
Thanks Greg, that is interesting.
Next time you hear of death by dog poo you let me know & if you think dog poo makes more of an impact than say, cow poo you’d better wake up. Unless you are vegan and don’t drive you ought to not throw the first stone. I have two rescue dogs and I walk them on leash and pick up poo. The mayor and president are both dog owners. If you think you are at the vanguard of some environmental movement that promotes banning dog ownership you are giving yourself too much credibility!
And PS…what’s the other 80% made up of? Also, the needles and broken bottles were in Meridian Play field and Wallingford park not a homeless camp. Furthermore, I’ve lived in Wallinford for 30 years, I go to both parks multiple times a week and neither I nor my daughter have ever stepped in poo, maybe luck or our animal loving good karma!