The Scoop on Dog Poop
Cleaning Up After Fido
I have been following with interest the events unfolding in Fairfax, Virginia over Baxter the dog and his dog walker. Apparently, the neighbors complained that Baxter was leaving his "business" throughout the neighborhood. Baxter, the Westie-bichon frise who weighs in at a whopping nineteen pounds, has produced mounds of poop.
The astonishing news for me was that dog poop in pedestrian areas has led to the development of a new business called PooPrints and you can visit their website here. PooPrints is a service that collects the DNA samples from pets' cheek swabs and then matches them in a database to the dog's waste. It is a CSI approach to catching the culprits. PooPrints charges about $30 to register each dog and $60 in addition for the test of each sample.
PooPrints claims the following statistics on their website:
The average dog generates 276 pounds of waste per year.
There is an average of 73 million dogs living in the United States.
The EPA categorizes dog poop as a toxic waste.
Petfinder adds the following statistics on their website here:
Animal waste may contain harmful organisms such as Giardia, Salmonella and E. coli
Stormwater carries pet waste and other pollutants directly into waterways.
As for Baxter's dogwalker, Kimberly Zakrzewski, a jury found her not guilty in failing to clean up his poop. Zakrzewski told the jury, "I carry plastic bags on every walk."
In another interesting twist, this bit of "poop" news made it into international headlines when a newspaper in Jordan picked up on the poop scoop. The Jordan Times reported, "Dogwalker not guilty in dog pooper scooper trial" in the Odds and Ends section of the Jordan Times. You can see it here.
Between that story and the story of the puppy that was rescued from the top of the train in South Carolina, two of the five Odds and Ends stories involved dogs. The other stories were about "Joe the Plumber" running for Congress, college students revolting over vegetarian rumors and the man in Laguna, California who had to be rescued from the hollow of a tree trunk.
It makes you wonder what the Jordanians must think of Americans!
Sources:
http://www.petfinder.com/your-pet-and-you/scoop-dog-poop.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-odd-pooper-scooper-trial,0,1065212.story
Published by Michele Starkey
Optimist who enjoys writing, laughing and spreading good news. If I have but one life to live, I hope to make mine memorable. My epitaph will read: she lived, she loved, she left. View profile
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44 Comments
Post a CommentI can certainly understand people's frustration. Responsible dog owners and walkers need to do the right thing and clean up after their dogs, or clients' dogs that are in their care. I'm also a pet sitter and one of the things I make sure of is that I keep the neighbourhood clean and tidy whenever I am walking someone's dog.
Sophie
Great article.
Ha ha, that was good.
OH my gosh, who knew?
That's crazy, matching DNA to a dog's poop to determine the culprit. Just pick up the dog's poop, people. It's not a hard habit to get into and it's important for the environment too.
Great topic to start my day reading. LOL!
Well, I can certain see this would drive someone to press charges -- my 84 year old MIL has to clean up someone's dog poop out of her front yard every day, I'm about ready to stake out her house at night to catch the culprit.
My family always picks up after their dogs when they walk them. Thanks for sharing!
The issue of dogie doo has created at least 2 businesses: poop scooping (for the dog owner who would rather someone else clean-up after their dog - in their own yard) and PooPrints.
A sooper-dooper pooper story. Fascinating stats as well. Thanks!