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Dog poop discovery season begins in Yellowknife

With most of the snow in the city now melted and temperatures warming up, it means spring activities are becoming more common.
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Chamika Dissanayake and Goose, his dog he adopted about six months ago, said Tin Can Hill was one area where dog poop was really bad. Kaicheng Xin/NNSL photo

With most of the snow in the city now melted and temperatures warming up, it means spring activities are becoming more common.

But there are things on the side of the road or on trails that have been catching the attention of residents and it stinks.

Dog poop has begun to pop up now that the snow has gone and Yellowknifer spoke to a couple of dog-walkers out and about on Monday to get their take on the amount of canine fecal matter which has begun to sprout.

“I’ve seen dog feces everywhere and it has been really bad,” said Chamika Dissanayake, a new dog owner who adopted his dog, Goose, about six months ago. “A good example is the Tin Can Hill area — things are really bad there.”

Dissanayake been living in Yellowknife for five years now and doesn’t feel there is enough enforcement of owners cleaning up after their dog.

”I think we should have stricter laws about this,” he said. “I don’t know what the culture is behind it, but since the first day I’ve been here, things have been like this.”

Leela Mack, who is also a new dog owner, said that overall, most of the dog walkers she has seen were all taking responsibility and did a good job on cleaning up, though there was still places that are need improvement on.

City council passed a by-law in May of 2018 which outlines that failure of an owner to remove dog feces and failure to carry suitable means to remove feces will face a $100 fine for each offence.

Yellowknifer asked the city if enough enforcement had been put into the by-law, but did not receive an answer as of press time.

Though he felt not enough enforcement was happening, Dissanayake said that people shouldn’t always lean on the city to do everything as it’s a responsibility for all dog owners to either carry a bag or have tools to clean up after their pet does their business.

“People, as a whole, need to come together to collectively start to do what we can,” he said. “But if the city can put more action into it, at least find a couple of people to put more enforcement on it or to help clean it, that can make a big difference.”