Jan 16 2009
Pigs fly, as I agree with Ken Schram over Seattle’s poop scoop laws
Heard this on the radio today.
The issue was a guy in Seattle who was walking his dog without a leash at Discovery park. Two leash nazis humane law-enforcement officers confronted him, and cited him for the park’s leash law.
He figures that was a fair cop.
But they also cited him for failure to have feces removal equipment. From the Seattle Times:
Dog owner says rules about droppings stink
On a rainy November morning, Guiling decided to take Amy, his 13-year-old shepherd-mix dog, to Discovery Park.
He did not have a leash, his excuse being, “she’s 13. She can barely walk.”
On the scene happened two humane law-enforcement officers once known as dog catchers. Seattle has 13 in the field.
They wrote out a citation for Amy not being leashed, which Guiling accepted.
When Guiling later took the time to look at the ticket, he found he had actually been given two $54 citations, the other for failure to carry scoop equipment.
The latter is what Guiling is challenging.
Here is why.
He’s now heading to court concerning the wording of Seattle Municipal Code 18.12.080 about dogs in parks, which says the owner “shall carry equipment for removing feces.”
That’s the dog-scoop law.
According to Guiling’s version of events, although he wasn’t carrying a plastic bag to pick up Amy’s poop, what he did was walk to a nearby garbage can, find an empty plastic bag and use that.
OK, Ken was on the guys side, saying that the law was essentially stupid. That where the pigs fly. I agree.
As Ken pointed out, what happens when you take the poopy bag and use it? Now you have fulfilled the law by picking up your dogs mess, but you are now in violation of the law because you no longer have a poopy bag, your feces removal equipment.
So this requires you to carry several, just in case. One caller said five or six.
Maybe we should require a shovel too.
Or what if the dog went poo at home and did not go poo at the park. If you didn’t need it, what’s the point? Do we always ticket for preventative measures?
The purpose of the law is to prevent the leaving of poo in our parks, right? I am OK with that. I think irresponsible pet should be punished.
So make the law punish the crime: leaving the poo. Not for this. This is just nanny law that misses the point entirely.
What it does do, however is generate a little more money for the city. Wonder if that is a factor?
Granted, according to the stats, not much, but quite frankly I am sick of any attempt to get us tax payers to cough up a few more dollars for them to spend irresponsibly.
Oh and the loophole Giuling is citing is actually interesting.
“My point was that there is no definition,” Guiling said. “It could be the hat on your head, it could be your hand. For $54, I’d take off my shirt and use it.”
It’s true, says Baxter, that what is and isn’t a scoop isn’t really defined.
“I’ve had people say they’d take off their stocking cap and use this if the dog defecates,” Baxter said. “Another individual said they’d pull their glove out of their pocket.”
And technically, that is a good point. If they cannot define it other than “equipment to remove feces”, why should they be able to enforce it?
This would not be a problem, of course, if people who own pets would take a little personal responsibility for them, and clean up after them. In other words, the people created this problem with their own irresponsible behavior.
So apparently, even in the liberal parks of Seattle, where the enlightened progressive goes to play with their four legged friends, apparently even those eco conscious Seattlites can’t deal effectively with poo.
Oneliners….so many oneliners…so little time….Anyway, Ken, this one is yours. I am with you on it.
But don’t let that stop you from giving me a Schrammie…
Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Political Byline, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, Adam’s Blog, The World According to Carl, DragonLady’s World, The Pink Flamingo, and Democrat=Socialist, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
17 Responses to “Pigs fly, as I agree with Ken Schram over Seattle’s poop scoop laws”
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Re: “equipment to remove feces”– Since many dogs (most, truth to tell) are coprophagic under very low diet stress, why not simply point to the dog and say, “There’s my equipment to remove feces.”?
*heh*
Stupid law. Stupid law enfarcement. But then,
“When a stupid man does something he knows is wrong, he always claims it is his duty.”
I guess the leash nazis just revel in upholding stupidity.
Yet another (of a plethora) example of anarcho-tyranny. It’s easier (and long-term more profitable) to go after common citizens with stupid, intrusive laws than to go after actual malefactors. Count on it: if some law enfarcement bully wants to charge you with something (and stick you with a fine or legal expenses), then the law enfarcement bully can find some law or regulation, somewhere, you’re innocently in violation of and whack you upside the head with it.
OTOH, leash laws in general are Good Things. Dogs running loose, unsupervised and uncontrolled, are considered by civilized persons to be Target Practice. The key in “Target Practice” application is “unsupervised and uncontrolled”. I have no problem and never have had a problem with well-behaved, well-trained, controlled dogs under the watchful supervision of a conscientious person–adult or otherwise. But ANY unsupervised dog running loose is a pest and potential–or actual–menace–multitudes of examples abound–and if not brought under immediate control should be put out of our “misery”. Period. Gangs of uncontrolled dogs range many metropolitan areas, despite the efforts of properly-functioning dog (and other animal control personnel :-)) catchers’ best efforts. Owners who do not properly control their animals are scum, and stupid scum at that, IMO. But “properly control” does NOT have to mean a leash and an obvious pooper scooper. Dogs who aren’t controlled by voice and/or hand and/or whistle command probably aren’t controlled by a leash, either. Even if one’s attac hed to them somehow, because the other end is being held by an idiot, and a lazy one at that.
(BTW, one simple lil method that would get me in deep do-do with the leash nazis: when I walk Son&Heir’s dogs (ages 13 and 15–medium and large sized dogs, either of which could run rings around me if they were allowed–and they are allowed to when we are in our own yard and playing) and one or the other wants to take a dump, I simply tell them “No.” They can wait til we get home. And do. Then, I can add it to the compost heap w/o wasting a perfectly good plastic bag. I know folks in apartments or some such can’t easily do that, but then MOST folks who live in apartments shouldn’t own a dog anyway. Multiple reasons. In fact, I have had qualms about Son&Heir’s dogs and the size of our own yeard. Most big dogs need room to run, and his shepherd-based dogs (a shepherd-lab mix and a shepherd-beagle mix–figure that one:-) ) are no exception.
Lil anecdote: a little over a year ago, our “bad” neighbors kept letting their dog run loose, and naturally it was over in our front yard a lot (no, I didn’t step in it, but I did let the neighbors know my displeasure AND shot a couple of marbles–lightly-strung slingshot–at the dog. When cluing the mayor in (animal control? you have to be kidding), he said, “Just shoot it, and say you thought it was a coyote.” (I didn’t, but I did tell the neighbor what Bob had said and… he built a fence for his dog. It’s no wonder Bob’s been re-elected mayor here for 20 years… Go, Bob! A Baptist pastor, about 15 years ago, famously went out to his pickup, got his deer rifle from the rack and shot two pit bulls that were ragging into the geese at the Town Hole. No fine to him. Owner of the pit bulls was fined and ordered to pay for the disposal of the carcasses. Now that’s law enforcement at its finest. Another neighbor: their 20-something boy-child brought his pit bull around every now and then, until it got loose from him (again) and chased a pickup down the street to a stop sign and tried to “get” the (well-behaved) dogs riding in the pickup’s bed. Owner of the pickup got out and (righteously) shot the damned thing.
I love dogs, but dumbass lazy idiotic owners make some dogs into pests and/or menaces.
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