About $2,000 was spent last year on disposable dog bags for the receptacles around Keremeos and yet there was still loads of dog fece found throughout the village when the snow melted.
“Not only is it unpleasant, it’s unhealthy,” Marg Couslon the village’s CAO told the Review.
Late this winter the Review received several letters from community members concerned with some dog owner’s inability to pickup after their dog.
Although the village has a bylaw stating pet owners need to pickup after their animals or else be subject to a $50 fee attached to it that is often ignored.
“It’s not easy to catch people in the act of not picking up after their animals. We wish they would just do it because it’s the right thing,” Coulson said.
Jordy Bosscha, the head of public works for the village, said his staff often picks up while out doing other jobs.
“If the guys see something they’ll pick up and get rid of it, but it’s not like we’re going to send them out to do just that. But if we’re doing something downtown or in the parks and we some we will stop and dispose of it.”
Bosscha said the high price tag for the bags is higher than needed because some people take the bags when they don’t need them.
“I don’t know why they do it but we’ll go out and put a new box out and then go back a few days later or a week later and the entire box is gone,” he said.
He said another odd thing is that people will pickup after their dog and put it in a bag and just leave it on the ground.
“I’m not sure where they think it goes after that,” he said.
Several times the receptacles where the bags are kept have been vandalized also costing the village time and money to fix them.
The dog park is kept clean but that’s mainly because of some great dog owners that remind others they have a responsibility clean up after their animal.
“There’s some nice citizens that really keep an eye on the place. We’ll go and up pick up stuff too but they really want to keep it clean and healthy,” he said.
Coulson said the village needs the public’s help reminding people of their responsibility.
“We can’t have a bylaw officer going around and looking constantly for people that don’t pickup after their animal. We don’t want to be out there ticketing people. Hopefully people will learn to be more responsible. We don’t want that kind of stuff in our parks where the children play and where we’re trying to be outside and healthy,” she said.
For those out walking their dog and find that they need a bag there is a dispenser in Memorial Park near the Info Centre, two in or near Pine Park, and one on Vanderlinde Drive.