Spain's Hilarious Plan to Keep Dog Poop Out of Parks Is a Success

It turns out that mailing people their dog's poop is a good way to keep public areas clean.

In June, we wrote about the Spanish town of Brunete, a middle-class suburb of Madrid, whose officials were mailing people their dog's "business" back to them when it showed up in parks. Really: Volunteers were scouring local parks, and when they saw negligent dog owners ignore the squishy payloads their dogs had just dropped, they scooped them up, bagged them, boxed them, and sent them to the homes of those owners, whose addresses they got through a little detective work. 

We had a laugh over it. It was insane, right? Mailing dog poop back to owners to encourage people to pick up after their dogs? Well, the New York Times just got on the story, and the owners' tardiness in picking it up has resulted in a nice addition to the story.  

It's working.

According to Mayor Borja Gutiérrez, the mailing-dog-poop has resulted in fewer payloads scattered around parks and streets and more dog owners walking around with little baggies, "a sight that is still extremely rare across Spain," according to the Times.

Though the campaign lasted only two weeks, with 147 boxes of malodorous dog cigars mailed to residents, the mayor estimates that, months later, he's still seeing a 70 percent improvement.

The Times headed to a town park near City Hall to see for itself, looking for crap on the ground. There wasn't much. Indeed, people were holding poop bags. The Times was satisfied with the volumes of poop in bags and not scattered underfoot in this leafy oasis, and then headed to a quiet table in the back of a bar where the locals drink, to finally begin working on the novel.

Some residents didn't like the campaign at all, and they are mostly people who own dogs. 

"There is a campaign against dogs in this town, and what has this dog ever done?” said a woman who refused to give her name. She said she always picks up after her dog. The Times notes that everyone they spoke to said the same thing. 

“It’s your dog, it’s your dog poop,” said the Mayor. “We are just returning it to you.”

Though the campaign was nutty, it's not quite as crazy as one we saw in 2011, in which New Taipei City in Taiwan offered raffle tickets in exchange for each bag of dog poop residents submitted to the government. The prizes? Gold ingots worth hundred and even thousands of dollars. A total of 85 people won prizes, including household appliances, and the streets were blissfully clear of poop, according to the BBC.  

Unfortunately, authorities had to stop the campaign when they realized they couldn't keep giving people gold for dog poop. 

Via the New York Times

View the original article here

Russian Dog Hunters Kill Hundreds in Moscow Parks

The barbaric practice has become an epidemic, with more than 1,500 dogs killed in the last few years. The people are rising up.

If you haven't heard about dog hunting yet, brace yourself. It's an insane underground "sport" in Russia, in which hunters lay out traps filled with poisoned meat in parks to kill dogs.

In September, more than 70 dead dogs were poisoned in a week at a single park, as reported by The Star. 

Moscow's Green Lead Movement estimates that more than 1,500 stray and domestic dogs have been killed in the last few years, according to the Moscow Times. 

Russia has notoriously lax animal protection laws and authorities who fail to prosecute. According to the Sun, only nine cases against dog hunters in Moscow have made it to court since 2011, with just one ending in a conviction.

Stray dogs are common in Russia, with estimates of more than 25,000 in Moscow alone. The dog hunters claim they are going after strays, but pets are being killed -- and targeted -- as well. The New York Times reported on a flier in a Moscow park that read: “If you don’t follow the rules of walking your dog -- it will die.” 

The dog hunters meet and trade tips online. "Dog hunting forums -- the most well-known of which are Vreditelyam.net and Pest.net -- are populated by those who call themselves “volunteers” and provide graphic photos of their trophy killings," reports the Star. "The sites require extensive registration and identification processes for participants."

“It's a whole community,” said an event manager. “They write how they kill them, post photographs, tell you which poison is better and where to buy it.”

We can't imagine. Apparently, those 70 dogs were killed by Amanita phalloides, aka the death cap mushroom. 

Fortunately, change might be occurring, though not by the government -- while the police opened an investigation after the September murders, it seems to have gone nowhere, as not a single person has been detained for the deaths of the more than 70 dogs. 

Instead, the people are rising up against the dog hunters. 

This weekend, hundreds of protesters came to a rally at Moscow's New Pushkin Square to voice their anger. Many even brought their dogs, despite fears that dog hunters would target the area. The rally was organized by the Green Lead movement, according to the Moscow Times. Celebrated Russian actor and producer Leonid Yarmolnik spoke to the people. "People who kill their fellow creatures, they can't call themselves human beings," he said.

Let's hope the public continues to rise up against this barbaric and insane sport, and the authorities begin track down and prosecute the killers. It is madness to allow it to continue. 

View the original article here

Let's Talk: Dog Parks - Love 'Em or Hate 'Em?

When I started research for the first edition of my book, The Dog Lover’s Companion to California, there were just a handful of fenced-in dog parks in the entire Golden State. I raved about these parks and gave them a four-paw rating and lots of space in my book, because they were so dog-focused, so safe from cars, and mostly so unique.

Fast-forward a couple of decades to 2012 and the seventh edition. The world has gone to the dogs. At least the U.S. has. There are thousands of these dog parks across the country -- hundreds in California alone. I’ve had to rein in the descriptions to the point where some are as short as three sentences, and have removed dog-friendly events from the book because there just wasn’t enough room for everything. (The book is 1,006 pages. Big enough!)

Dog parks be great places for pooches to run around in leash-free bliss. But there's another side to dog parks that's not all wags and smiling snouts. Along the way, I’ve had mixed feelings about dog parks. Most people and dogs thrive in them, and they’re huge social outlets for both species. People can take their dog for a “talk” instead of a walk, and the dogs generally seem to enjoy sniffing each other’s tushies and chasing each other around with abandon.

But I’ve seen more than my share of problems at dog parks as well. It’s an occupational hazard when you visit hundreds of dog parks for your job. When a lot of dogs share a relatively small space where they can’t get out, and where people often aren’t paying attention, it can be a recipe for trouble.

There aren’t that many dog parks I’ll take Jake to by choice if lots of other dogs are around. As big and affable as he is, when he enters a park, he seems to attract every dog (not uncommon) and they tend to surround him and try to be dominant on and around him (not so common). It’s like he has a sign saying, “Hump me, guys! And come growl at me, too!” These days, if I’m going to check out a park that’s full of dogs, I don’t bring Jake.

During my visits to dog parks with and without my canine assistant, I’ve seen a lot of happiness and real joy. There’s nothing like watching a dog tearing around gleefully, with her tail high and a smile on her snout. And most of the people who use them are friendly and extremely responsible. They’re invested in their park try to make sure everyone is safe. If there’s a problem, they deal with it.

I’ve also seen my share of the not-so-good side of dog parks: Aggression, smaller dogs being trampled (shaken, not badly injured, thankfully; dog parks with a section just for little dogs helps this problem), and owners who ignore any bad behavior or anything their dog does at all - including pooping.

It can get downright ugly sometimes. Dogs have died in dog parks. Last month, a Siberian husky allegedly killed a Chihuahua at a fenced dog park in Ohio. Dogs and people have been bitten in dog parks. People have even become physically aggressive with other people if they felt their dog was getting a bad rap about something.

Dog parks are unfortunately no strangers to aggressive dogs

A writing colleague and I have plans to meet tomorrow, and when she found out I have a dog, she suggested we meet at a fenced dog park halfway between our houses. Our meeting is to be in the morning, but that’s doggy rush hour -- not a great time for an dog magnet like Jake. So she and I are leaving the dogs behind and grabbing breakfast instead.

But it got me to wondering what you guys think about dog parks. Do you use them? Do you avoid them? Have you had great experiences, terrible ones, or both? Please share your stories. Let’s talk!

Images via Shutterstock: Dog running with ball, dogs fighting

View the original article here