Many people scoff at the need to clean up dog feces.

I am my dog’s dedicated “Poop Fairy.” There are many reasons why all those who have dogs should do this.

1. Dog feces can spread diseases to canids (that includes our wild friends), cats and people. A few of the nasties: Ecoli, salmonnella, giardia, and roundworms. If your dog eats poop, parvovirus and coronavirus can be contracted if the poop is infected.

2. Makes our parks and beaches cleaner and more useable. Dog waste piles are an unpleasant, disgusting thing to step in. Our kids deserve to have clean beaches and grassy areas.

3. Disease-carrying insects like flies are attracted to foul-smelling dog waste. 

4. Your dog’s poop is your responsibility. Leaving it simply makes it someone else’s problem.

5. Tempting poop piles may develop a dog’s taste for eating feces, an unhealthy habit. This can be a problem especially with young dogs.

But in truth, the real problem appears to be more serious than most folks would believe. This website has a nice graphic layout explaining why it is important to pick up dog feces: theilovedogssite.com/the-shocking-truth-about-not-picking-up-your-dogs-poop.

The two reasons that really grabbed me are:

• One gram of dog feces contains 23 million fecal bacteria, many of which can be serious disease viruses.

• According to the EPA, dog poop is as toxic to the environment as chemical and oil spills.

If we value clean water and edible fish, we need to clean up our dogs’ poop.

Nina Faust