The other day, I was taking my dog for a walk. She was intent on going to one of her favourite pooping fields.
When we got down there, right in the middle of the field, was a full poop bag, tied off and everything.
Now, I want to give the unknown, alleged perpetrator the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they accidentally dropped it. Maybe a curious or very hungry raven picked it out of the nearby garbage bin and dropped it there when it figured out it wasn’t a very appetizing meal.
But, this is not the first time I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it along Rushbrook and other trails around Prince Rupert.
To be fair, it’s not as prevalent as it was in Smithers. And no doubt, Terrace, Kitimat and all the other communities in the Northwest have similar experiences.
It’s mind-boggling that someone would go to the trouble of bringing along bags, bending down to pick up the offensive deposit, tie off the bag, and then just dump it.
Of course, we are all familiar with the other mind-boggling phenomenon of people letting their dogs do their business and just leave it without even bothering to clean it up.
I’m not even sure which is worse, but both are unacceptable.
Honestly, the doggy-do situation is just disgusting.
Most trails have both poop bag dispensers and trash receptacles for disposing of them. The city makes it pretty easy to be responsible.
And speaking of responsibility, if you think you’re responsible enough to have a dog and don’t clean up after it, think again.
I’m not one of those alarmists who claim pet feces is destroying the environment. Prince Rupert doesn’t even treat its human sewage before dumping it in the harbour.
That’s a bigger issue for the environment, but it’s not going to be fixed overnight.
The city is working on it, though, one of the upgrades planned to tackle the now-$450 million infrastructure deficit.
In the meantime, under the category of what we can realistically do on a day-to-day basis to make Prince Rupert, or any of our Northwest communities more livable, cleaning up after our animals is a no-brainer.
It’s not just residents who have to look at or smell this, we’re coming up quickly on tourist season. What are all the visitors going to think?
How about a little community pride, people?