SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Three years after adopting a bylaw requiring dog owners to carry poop bags while out on walks, the city has yet to levy a single ticket, and says there are no plans to start.

Mike Lalonde and his dog, Tuk, get some exercise on School Draw Avenue last June. Three years after the city passed a bylaw requiring people to carry poop bags when walking their dogs, not a single ticket has been given out and the city has no immediate plans to change that. - NNSL file photo

"We have no tickets, we just have a lot of warnings," said Dennis Marchiori, the city's director of public safety.

The dog bylaw, adopted on Oct. 28, 2013, includes a $100 fine for either failure to carry "suitable means to remove feces," abandoning dog feces, or allowing feces to "unduly accumulate" on lawns.

While Marchiori says tickets have been issued for poop left behind, none have been issued for people caught without a bag. Instead, he said municipal enforcement officers have issued "dozens" of warnings, and use the bylaw as an educational tool. He was not able to provide details about how many tickets have been issued for failure to remove dog waste.

"There's lots of times where we'd rather do the education method," he said. "If we can do public education and that gets some stuff done, that's great."

It's not great for everyone though. Coun. Niels Konge thinks the city has really stepped in it by not enforcing the bylaw.

"I don't think that we should have bylaws on the books that aren't being enforced," he said. "I think that it actually is well beyond being silly, we have a rule that we're never going to hold anybody accountable for. That just doesn't make sense to me."

Marchiori added there are no concrete plans to start enforcing the bylaw.

"At this point in time, I'd leave it to the officers' discretion," he said, explaining that if officers start seeing an upswing in abandoned dog droppings or people without bags, it might be time to start ticketing.

Nalini Naidoo, director of communications and economic development with the city, backed him up, telling Yellowknifer in an e-mail the city may get to the point where tickets are needed in the future, and for now it is up to officers to use their discretion in issuing tickets in the interest of having a "positive public experience."

Coun. Julian Morse backed this idea, saying he's not a fan of over-policing, and the existence of the bylaw just gives officers flexibility.

"I think it's OK to use a bylaw to hand out warnings," he said. "I'm not interested in being a city where every little activity is regulated and people get tickets for every little thing."

He said he doesn't have any plans to intervene and demand the city start handing out tickets. Morse, who grew up in Yellowknife, said the dog-poop situation has always been this way.

"I consider it kind of a spring hazard that just happens," he said.

Coun. Adrian Bell said the failure to give out tickets makes the bylaw a "pointless legislative exercise."

"It's simply time to enforce it," he said, adding he is a dog owner himself and it would be irresponsible for him to

leave a mess on trails

the entire community enjoys.

"It can't be left simply as a piece of legislation with no intent to enforce," said Bell. "I think that compromises the whole bylaw."

Dog poop isn't just unsightly, it's dangerous. This week, the city posted a brochure to its Facebook page that warns the public dog poop can contain e. coli, giardia, parvo, tapeworms, roundworms, salmonella and coccidia. These micro-organisms can linger in the soil for years, according to the city.

Bell and Morse are both supportive of city efforts to help curb the dumping, including providing free bags at stations near popular walking trails.

There are currently free bag stations at 10 locations around the city, refilled every Friday from May to September, and as requested from September to May.

Marchiori said the poop landmines that become visible as the snow melts might not all be the fault of negligent dog owners though.

He said there is a lot of wildlife in the community right now, and anything from foxes to coyotes to stray dogs could be the perpetrators.

"Everybody has to poop," he said.

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