100 Ways to Reduce Your Impact

Step 89 Clean up after your pets

When you go out walking with your pet, clean up after them. First of all, it is disgusting for a passerby, and second, it can contaminate the local water supply.

Try not to let your pets urinate or poop in streams or rivers either. This is even more unsanitary. Especially during the summers where children might be swimming.

Comments

[Andimia]

I agree with the unsightly part but bad for the water supply? How is a pile of dog feces worse then a heard of deer/gaze of raccoons/gaggle of geese defecating all over?

[generator]

vegetarian animals fecal mater breaks down quickly and can be eaten by other animas and plants. dog fecal mater contains other animals in it, and preservatives and a range of things that take forever to break down. and a pile of dog poo is worth an entire gaggle of geese AND family of racoons in mass.

[Andimia]

source?

[generator]

have you ever watched duck poo break down compared to cat poo?
animals who eat nothing but ruffage and grains tend to fertilize the ground better than hard packed omni animal waste, theres more lipids in animal product waste than in fiberous cellulose waste which makes it more dense and less water-soluble.

i'm not gonna try to google some backup for this (you could do that), but i guess my source here is personal experience as a composter, gardener, biology student, previous duck owner, and cat owner, and knowing the food that dogs eat comes out the other end much more difficult to wash away than geese poo when you're trying to break it up with water and spray it off your sidewalk.

sorry that was a gross visual...

you're also not supposed to flush cat poo down the toilet, theres aggressive bacteria that mess with our ecosystem when they make it downstream into the lakes and oceans after treatment. supposed to throw it away in the trash or let it sun dry and then mix it in with soil (kills the organisms)

[Magnetman]

I'am not a dog owner, actually I hate dog's of all kind's. But people are very stupid not to pick up after there dogs. Luckily now there's a number where I live anyone can call and there's always someone in the area to give them a fine of 300$ per dog, that includes not picking up and going on the beach with a dog. Anyway the important thing here is Pick up especially on the beach, I mean people play on the beach not animals.

[alspants]

: / lame... want to find something better to do with your time than narc on people for not picking up their dog poop?

[Magnetman]

No thanks, i'm fine complaining about people not cleaning up after there dog's. What bothers me more is people think there dog can do anything including coming on my property, but I fixed that problem.

[B0Nnaay]

Also if you live in the city, dog waste is often consumed by RATS! Providing your dog is regular, they receive regular meals. Basically you are feeding these pests a well balanced diet and providing them nutrients for strong bones and a healthy shiny coat. And we dont need that!

[podup365.com]

I would rather that pet owners pick up after their pets and build a pet manure composting bin. I saw a TV show on the Green channel that showed how a homeowner made one of these for their dogs. The waste of any pet could go into this, however I would only want use the compost on landscaping plants.