Boxes full of discarded dog excrement are being shipped back to the pet’s owners (Europa Press)
Dog parks are an oasis for millions of pet owners—pups can run around, interact with other dogs and get a taste of nature without having to head out of town on weekends.
Some careless dog owners, however, don’t abide by dog park rules, or simple common decency, and leave their dogs’ waste behind for others to clean up.
Well, a small town in Spain, reports the Telegraph, has decided to remedy the situation by mailing the discarded dog excrement back to the offending owners.
The paper reports that the town council of Brunete, located about 20 miles from Madrid, has undertaken a complex effort to crack down on the disrespectful dog owners. Twenty volunteers have been enlisted to approach dog owners who leave their pet’s poop behind, and to strike up a conversation with the goal of finding out the name of the dog.
“With the name of the dog and the breed it was possible to identify the owner from the registered pet database held in the town hall,” a spokesman from the council told the Telegraph.
Once the owner’s address was confirmed, the dog poop is scooped up, placed in a box containing the town hall’s insignia and delivered via courier to the owner’s home. And to top it all off, the box is labeled, “Lost Property.”
So far, 147 boxes of dog excrement have been mailed in the town, which is home to about 10,000 residents. And it’s been effective: Brunete says unwarranted “dog drops” have declined by some 70 percent since the campaign began.
