At a Durham City Council work session back in January, a woman approached the podium during the public-comments portion of the meeting and said something about Durham’s “poop problem.” She was pretty mad. I laughed then, and I laugh now. But that lady gets the last laugh. Last night, the Durham County Board of Commissioners passed unanimously an ordinance making it a finable offense if you don’t pick up your dog’s shit after it shits and then put the shit in a bag and throw it away.
The Herald-Sun covered the meeting, and reporter Lauren Horsch helpfully tweeted out the language of the ordinance. Basically, you have six months to get your shit house in order. After that, you are liable to be slapped with a $50 or $100 fine if you leave dog shit on “public property, public park property, public right-of-way, or any private property without the permission of the private property owner.” The Durham County Sheriff’s Office will be the ones enforcing this ordinance.
The Herald-Sun also notes that the county wants to supply dog-shit bags to parks and other areas where dogs congregate. It’s looking into funding for that.
