Dear Editor,
A big thank you to our fellow dog walker, “Three Dog Lady”, as she is affectionately called by some of us, for calling us all to scoop our dogs’ poop!
As a committed dog walker along the Rail Trail, I too have noticed the huge amount of dog droppings that have been left along the trail, particularly in yellow, black, green, blue and white poop bags, most commonly of the kind purchased particularly for pet faeces. During town clean up last spring, the two of us cleaning up the stretch between Van Buren and Hwy #44 found more than 70 bags of dog poop in that short stretch of path. Having hoped that a clean path would encourage dog owners to maintain the status quo, I became more and more frustrated over the summer every time I spied or stepped across yet another bag of poop dropped on the side of the path. The breaking point for me was one day in September, when on my daily walk I found one blue bag at path side and two colourful bags of poop hanging from tree branches, one carefully tied, the other carelessly tossed.
Thanks to a neighbour’s curbside freebie, a garbage can was installed on the Rail Trail stop sign at its junction with Concession Road, and is being tended by this dog owner and path keeper. I wish to reiterate our fellow pet-parent’s plea: Lets agree to pick up after our dogs! And I wish to add my own request: Do NOT throw your dog poop bags into the brush or ditches along the path; do NOT tie them onto a tree branch. Do NOT leave them on the path “to pick up on my way back”. Please DO take your dog poop bags with you, filled (or unfilled), or, if need be, dispose of them in the Rail Trail garbage can. Together we can keep our path beautiful and clean.
Bev Illauq
