How your pet’s waste harms Colorado parks and trails
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - On Saturday, June 11 The Trails and Open Space Coalition (TOSC) is teaming up with Animal ER Care for a dog waste clean-up challenge.
“One of the biggest complaints we hear from people is why don't people clean up after their pets?” Said Susan Davies, Executive Director of the Trails and Open Space Coalition.
But many may be wondering, what's so bad about leaving a dog's waste in the grass or along a trail? Won't it just biodegrade into the ground?
TOSC says pet waste can do more damage than one may think.
According to TOSC, there are 23 million fecal coliform bacteria in a single gram of pet waste. Those bacteria can make animals and humans sick.
Domestic dogs are not part of the natural ecosystem, which operates in a closed-loop system, so what comes out of your dog is excess unneeded nutrients.
"Aesthetically, it detracts from the beauty of our amazing parks and open spaces," said Davies. "But the other piece is: it's really bad for the environment. Dogs don't eat what wildlife eat. So when they get rid of their waste, it gets into the soil, it gets into the watershed. It has a lot of nutrients in it that really don't belong in the soil, in the watershed."
Another big problem: if it's not disposed of properly, pet waste can end up in drinking water.
"When they do some water testing, they find traces of dog waste, and it's just not good,” said Davies.
The 'Scoop the Poop' event takes place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and will focus on 5 popular trails, parks, and open spaces.
These include:
- North Cheyenne Canon Park
- Blodgett Open Space
- Red Rock Canyon Open Space
- Black Forest
- Yucca Flats at Palmer Park
"We asked our readers, where do you see a problem? And they told us," said Davies. "They said, we see problems at Black Forest Section 16. So for the first time, we're going to be there. We see problems in Palmer Park, or Blodgett or Red Rock, or North Cheyenne Canyon. So we're going to the places where people say they see issues. We hope people will come out for their hike, win some of our prizes, and make our parks cleaner."
TOSC staff and volunteers will be stationed at trailheads with free dog waste bags, encouraging and challenging park users to scoop dog waste that they see along the trails and in the parking areas.
Those that participate by returning that bag of dog waste to TOSC staff will be entered into a contest for a chance to win a custom dog first aid kit provided by Animal ER Care.
