Is your dog
light on the land? Visiting
a natural area is a real treat for both dog and dog owner. There
is so much to see and smell, and a chance to run and play. But
unless carefully managed, your dog also has the potential to damage
the natural environment you have come to enjoy. Other visitors
are depending on you to leave no trace in public open spaces and
trails.
Pet poop
harms
the environment Dog [and
cat!] excrement isn't just foul-smelling, it damages the land and
spreads harmful microbes into our water sources that then drain into the rivers. It adds excessive amounts of nitrogen fertilizer to the soil,
increasing the spread of nitrogen-loving noxious weeds at the expense
of our native plants. The poop also spreads parasites and bacteria.
Dogs can be asymptomatic carriers of internal parasites like Giardia
and Cryptosporidium. Infected animals pass up to 10 million Giardia
cysts and/or 10 billion Cryptosporidum oocysts per gram of feces.
Infection can occur with ingestion of one Cyrptosporidium oocyst.
Pet poop can not only infect your pet with harmful pathogens, but it can also infect and harm wildlife.
The preservatives in pet food assure that the poop of today will be around as a smelly eye
sour for a long while.
Pick up your pet poop, it's not an option. Leaving your pet's feces in our public places is no different than throwing trash down on the ground. Your job is complete when the poop makes it to a trash can.
Thank you!
Humble Pie
Read the full version of this excellent
brochure, excerpts from the Boulder, Colorado Open Space and Mountain Parks brochure - Leave
No Trace.
why pet sitting? ooooo 
