POWASSAN – Area dogs have left their mark on a local soccer field.
“At the beginning of June, hundreds of kids on teams with the local soccer league will start to play in that field. Who will pick up all of the dog excrement so that the field is a clean, healthy place to play?” questioned Powassan resident Gloria Nelson in a letter sent to the municipality regarding the current state of the Glendale Heights Drive soccer fields, known as South Himsworth Park.
“It is the responsibility of the dog owners, but they’re not doing it,” she said.
Nelson said people have treated the property as an off-leash dog park over the winter months, allowing their pets to use the fields as a toilet without taking responsibility for clean up.
Now that spring has arrived and the snow is melted, she said the fields are left in an unsanitary state with dog feces all over the ground.
Nelson is requesting stoop and scoop signs be posted in highly visible places around the property, as well as notices that dogs must be kept on a leash. And she wants these requirements enforced by municipal by-law officers.
Also, Nelson wants the excrement currently littered all over the property to be cleaned up.
A mother of two young boys, Nelson said her family has to be careful not to step in any of the mess or allow kites, balls and the like to land in any of it.
“This is a health hazard,” she said. “The field is full of it.”
According to Nelson, many of the people travel by car to bring their dog to the area to run.
“It seems like every time I go by there is someone parked there with their dog, so it’s not necessarily the neighbours that are doing it. It’s people coming from other areas to use the park as a dumping ground,” she said.
During the regular meeting of council held May 15, Mayor Peter McIsaac acknowledged the need for proper signage.
In the meantime, it “looks like we’re going to need a lot of pooper scoopers,” he said.