Path Association representatives met with members of the Waitsfield Select Board this week to talk about path access, landowner issues and how Waitsfield (and other Valley towns) might strengthen their dog ordinances to ensure that dogs on public paths don’t create problems for landowners or other members of the public.
The MRPA would like Waitsfield to consider a dog ordinance amendment that requires dog owners to pick up after their pets. Warren includes such a provision in its dog ordinance and Path people think it will bolster their efforts to get dog owners to pick up after pets on the path and in other public places.
That request sparked a lively discussion about whether it was possible to enforce a dog waste law and how it would be enforced and how to deal with dog waste scofflaws.
Board members discussed whether it was possible to empower the town dog warden to write tickets for errant pet owners and whether it would encourage better behavior on the part of dog owners if pet waste stations were installed at regular intervals along the path – and in other public places.
This week’s discussion touched on the fact that people may be under the misapprehension that because this is a rural area, pet waste can be allowed to compost where it is dropped. Members discussed pet parks in other parts of the state and country where pet-owner peer pressure suffices to get owners to pick up after their dogs.
The reasons for picking up the pooch’s poop are myriad. It keeps other people from stepping in it. It prevents the waste from leaching into ground and river water. It respects the landowner who has opened their property to the public. It’s good manners.
The real consequence of too many people failing to pick up after their dogs is not just a ticket and a civil fine, it is the loss of land for a path.
And that is the ultimate ticket.
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