‘Dog Poo City’
A lack of bins for dog-do is turning Palmerston North into ‘‘Dog Poo City’’, a dog owner says.
Dog owner Maxine Jones says the mess left on and around the city’s walkways and footpaths is making it unpleasant for walkers and deterring people from enjoying ‘‘our beautiful city’’.
‘‘The amount of dog faeces lying around is disgusting. It’s enough to put people off going for a walk.
‘‘We are becoming Dog Poo City, which we don’t want,’’ she said.
Jones said the solution was more bins, and more bag dispensers, to make it easier for dog owners to pick up their dog’s business and put it in a bin.
There are more than 8000 dogs in Palmerston North, and about 520 general waste bins around parks and reserves.
On one of her favourite walks, along Pioneer Highway and out to Longburn, the only bins were at Amberley Ave and outside the Manawatu¯ Trotting track.
That could see her having to carry a bag of dog business for several kilometres, and she could understand why some dog owners did not bother to do the right thing.
A recent dogadopter, Jones said the thought of picking up little Molly’s business was a bit offputting at first, but she had grown used to it.
‘‘It’s really simple.’’
She accepted that the problem was with dog owners who were not considerate of other people and did not pick up after them.
But it was not realistic to expect people to carry bags of dog poo for long distances, or pop it in the car to take home if they had driven somewhere to exercise their pets.
‘‘If there were more bins, it’s got to help.’’
Council parks and property manager John Brenkley said staff frequently reviewed requests for more bins.
‘‘There have been a lot more calls with the walkways network extending. People love to use them, which is great, that’s why they are there.
‘‘But a bin is only as good as the emptying, and we have to consider the logistics of getting the mess out.’’
The dog-shaped bins had been phased out several years ago because the narrow necks made them hard to empty, and they had been replaced with bins for general waste, including bagged dog poo.
He said the bins also needed to be in places where staff emptying them could get to them quickly and efficiently.
Brenkley said most regular walkers knew where the bins were, and did the right thing. ‘‘The whole thing is about owner responsibility.’’ One of the problems with installing more bins was that some people abused the service, dropping bags of household waste in them instead of just the odd bit of litter. Jones did not accept that was any reason for rationing bins. ‘‘That’s fly tipping, and that’s a different issue. It’s not my problem. It’s a matter for them to catch people.’’
Jones has designed a petition and hopes to gather hundreds of pages of signatures before presenting it to the council.
‘‘I’m not going to take ‘no’ for an answer,’’ she said.