Why do so many pet owners leave dog poop bags on the ground?
There are an estimated 90 million dogs in America and they all eat, sleep and poop. It's how that last thing is handled that is the source of aggravation for some pet owners and nature lovers.
The seaside town of Scituate, Massachusetts is quintessential New England. The waves crash along the rocks as grass in the dunes sway back in forth in the cool breeze. To stand along the shoreline is free meditation.
In the spirit of Zen, at the town's Egypt Beach you will see a sign saying, "Free Yoga." But read on and the sign says "Bend over. Pick up your pet waste. Call it downward dog."
About 100 feet away, just past a large trash can, a green "poop bag" sits on the beach.
Scituate resident Susan Lupone Stonis sees this in her neighborhood too. Dog owners bagging and bailing. She is fed up.
"When you are walking along, and you are just feeling such joy of nature and beauty, and you look into the woods, and you see a bunch of poop bags. It's just so aggravating," Susan said. Then with her puppy "Pebbles" in tow, and pink waste bags hanging from her leash, Susan pointed out all the dog waste bags hanging in the bushes along the road.
"They take their bag out of their leash. They put it in there very mindfully, and then what goes through their mind when they chuck it into the woods?" Susan said.
"There is no poop fairy"
Instead of making a stink, the retired schoolteacher made a sign which read: "Take your poop bags home. There is no poop fairy." The lighthearted approach didn't work. The sign disappeared. The poop remained. She made a second sign. That didn't work either.
Susan laughed when asked if she ever thought she would be at home making signs about poop. "No. My family thinks I'm nuts," she said.
She then mentioned a post WBZ-TV's David Wade made on social media complaining about the same issue. The bucolic hiking trail near his home where he walks his dog is littered with these bags. Some hanging from branches 10 feet of the ground.
"Who does this," Wade asked on social media. The comments flooded in from other pet owners dealing with the same problem.
What could the excuse be? Well, some people use biodegradable bags and think they'll be gone soon enough. But even biodegradable bags need the perfect conditions to break down. They need heat, moisture, oxygen and microbes. In the woods it could take up to 10 years for them to disappear.
No bag will magically vanish
Rob Pelton and Jeanelle Soland travel the country with the organization Leave No Trace. They educate people how to lessen their impact on nature
They say there is no bag that will magically vanish. Bags labeled "Compostable" only break down quicker in an industrial composter.
"I would recommend any bag that picks up the poop and goes into the trash ultimately," said Soland.
Another dog owner in Scituate had an interesting take: "The bags are terrible for the environment. I think it would be better for the environment if they didn't use the bag and just kicked it into the woods."
Not a great idea said Pelton.
"Bears and deer are consuming things that are naturally occurring in the environment, so when they go, it's things that are found in the environment," Pelton said. "Whereas a dog is consuming processed foods, they could be on antibiotics and all these things that are not necessarily naturally occurring."
That means when the snow melts or the rain falls, that dog waste can run off into our rivers and lakes causing problems for other wildlife.
So, when it comes to your dog's "doody," you have to do your duty and clean it up right.