The week of April 22-29 is National Scoop the Poop Week (no, really!). Snicker if you will, but this annual “holiday” was created as a way to bring awareness to the huge health and environmental issues caused by dog feces.
Consider these facts:
· Dog waste is brimming with bacteria and can harbor parasites such as roundworms and hookworms.
· Because children frequently play outdoors in the dirt and sand, they are most susceptible to bacterial infection from dog excrement.
· Many municipalities in the United States (including Santa Barbara) requires dog guardians to clean up after their pets and issue fines for those who don’t.
· Pet waste contaminates local waterways and beaches.
· Feces attract flies and we all know how annoying they can be at family picnics.
It wasn’t too many years ago that I might have, er, poo-pooed the idea of picking up after a pet in public, but these days I actually find myself approaching delinquent dog guardians with a mutt mitt and a message. Take last Wednesday, for instance. I had just settled in for a quiet lunch in my car at Goleta Beach. As I sank my teeth into my sandwich, I noticed a cute boy and his even cuter Golden Retriever walking along the waterfront. A Kodak moment, for sure. As I took another bite, I wondered why this child wasn’t in school (I later learned that he’s home-schooled). As I munched and mused, the dog sniffed at the sand and then—to put it politely—“did his business.”
OK, I thought, the boy should be removing a plastic bag from his pocket right about now. But……he didn’t. He kept walking. I stopped chewing. Now I had a doggone doo-doo dilemma on my hands. Should I do nothing? Should I set aside my hunger and my sandwich, don a pair of water shoes (which I always keep in the car for spur-of-the-moment beach walks), grab a plastic bag (also in the car) and trudge over to pick up the poop myself?
What would Scooby-Doo do?
I knew I couldn’t leave without first talking with the boy. God, I hate confrontations. Then I remembered that Earth Day was fast approaching and I thought of all the ways that people can help save our beleaguered planet, which includes making No. 2 clean-up a No. 1 priority.
I gulped the rest of my lunch and waited for the villains, I mean the boy and his dog, to return from the end of the pier. With a biodegradable bag in hand, I strolled to the water’s edge and approached the pair with a smile and a “How ya doing?!” They were doing great, according to the boy. I casually mentioned that I noticed his dog had “dropped something” and offered him the bag to clean it up. The boy—whose name I’ll change to Sam to protect the embarrassed—offered profuse apologies and whipped out a mutt mitt from his pocket. His dog, with perfect comedic timing, squatted and plopped another “present” right in front of us. We both laughed as I handed Sam my plastic bag. “Guess you’ll need this after all.”
“Thanks,” Sam said rather sheepishly, as he gathered up the now-full bags and headed back to the picnic area where his dad was waiting for him.
“No problem,” I smiled. “Just doing my ‘dooty’ to help keep our beaches clean.”
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