Dog Feces raises Mayor's hackles

As written in the Shoreline, Vol.19 No.20 August 26, 2007

Some dog owners in Paradise may not know it, but the Mayor of Paradise is fed up with the way some people let their dogs' do business', wherever they want.

Mayor Wiseman didn't hold back his frustration at all during this weeks council meeting when he told council how annoyed he has become with irresponsible pet owners. Mayor Wiseman says the issue of dog 'waste' on the trails and other public areas has always been a 'pet' peeve of his, but what he witnessed at the Peter Barry Duff soccer field over this week has him so flustered, he wants to assign a municipal enforcement officer to solve the problem.

"There was the coach, with two Tim Hortons coffee cups going around picking up dog crap. Now we got five year-olds, six, seven and eight year-olds playing soccer on a field that some idiot, who should'nt own a dog, let his dog out on the field crapping on it. These are people that should not be allowed to won a dog! It's absolutely disgusting! I got so mad yesterday evening that I would take every dog in Paradise to Mount Pearl to be euthanized! It just burns me so much that idiots are allowed to own dumb animals!" Councillor Thornhill came to the defense of the 'dumb animals' and said that dogs themselves should not be held responsible. "You can't blame the dog. It's not the dog," said Thornhill. "Well, who are you gonna blame? said Wiseman. "The owner!", Thornhill shot back.

Wiseman asked council if it would be possible to get a municipal enforcement officer to carry out an extra patrol of the area and confiscate 'offending' dogs that are running free. "It's unbelievable that we have to spend taxpayers dollars to go out to try to keep the dogs off the soccer fields where kids play", said Wiseman. "It's the same thing with the trails, I think we should ban them from the trails, if people are not going to keep them on a leash and pick up after them, we need our municipal officers to crack down on that crap."

Councillor Bobbett suggested that maybe a simple solution might be to put up more signs. "That crowd can't read!", said Wiseman. "We've got signs up there!" Bobbett said, "Maybe we should put up some more."

"Baseball bat, that's the only thing they understand", said Wiseman. "We need to get the message out to those idiots that that's not acceptable here, and we are going to do something about it".