In today’s poop news, an Austin, Minnesota man who allegedly put his dog’s feces in the same envelope he used for the payment of a parking ticket has now been charged with disorderly conduct.
The story explains that police ticketed the vehicle of this 22-year-old on April 18 while it was parked in front of his residence, and to show his annoyance, the man put an envelope containing his payment and dog feces in a drop box at the law enforcement center.
AP was cited as reporting that at first he was charged with the misdemeanor on May 11 after an office employee for the Austin Police Department smelled a bad odor as she collected envelopes from the box and then later fell ill.
As she opened the envelopes on April 25, the woman noticed one leaking brown fluid, which got onto her hands and her desk. The next morning the woman awoke with a headache and vomited repeatedly and had to be hospitalized for about two days with an undetermined illness.
Officials in Nantucket, Mass. are concerned about the potential health problems caused by irresponsible owners who leave behind dog droppings in public places. Although there is no law prohibiting dogs or other animals from town land, and Park and Rec acknowledges it cannot enforce its request, it is nonetheless putting up signs on its properties asking users to refrain from bringing their pets.
One official was quoted as saying, "It’s a concern that dogs leave their great little gifts all over the beach in general. Walking barefoot seems to be traditional and it’s a real surprise when you don’t notice it. A lot of times dogs leave their great little gifts below the high tide mark, it gets scooped up, carried out and you get bacteria all over the place. One dog’s mistake can close a beach. If I happen to be sampling in that area, it’s surprise city when the results come back.”
Park and Rec director Jimmy Manchester was quoted as saying “You have so many people and so many animals, it’s an unhealthy thing when you walk around on the beach and step in poop. You can say it until you’re red in the face, but the best thing to do is educate people.”
And finally, cats in the Swedish town of Söderköping are facing a crackdown, after the council issued a ban on free sex and on pooping in the flowerbeds.
Environmental and planning officers in the town, 180 kilometres south of Stockholm, have demanded that cat owners place litter trays outdoors, and that cats not being used in breeding programmes should be castrated.
The story says that local cats have been blamed for destroying plants, polluting sandpits, damaging cars, and tearing cushions on outdoor furniture.
The main problem, the officials claim, is "cat owners and the myth that cats can manage on their own."
