The war on poop: spring thaw leaves B.C. crusaders steaming over smelly brown mess

A seasonal scourge prompts dog behaviourist and trainer Anne Dopson to tackle the neighbourhoods of Terrace, B.C. with a shovel at the first signs of melting snow.

In anticipation of this year's thaw, Dopson adopted a strict anti-excrement regimen, plastering posters around town and even handing out scoops and garbage bags to her fellow canine lovers. 

But nothing seems to rid Terrace of the smelly brown mess revealed each spring.

"It's right on the road, the side of the road," sighed Dopson. 

"It's almost like people just park there, open their doors and let their dogs out to do their business, and then they come back in. It gets on dogs' paws, on people's footwear, and they track that home."

Vessel for disease

Persistent piles of poop aren't just an assault on the senses, says Erin Fraser, a public health veterinarian with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

"E. coli is often prevalent in dog feces," which thrives alongside salmonella and assorted parasites, she told CBC Radio's Carolina de Ryk.

And the feces itself is everywhere this time of year, Fraser adds. "The volume of dog waste can be staggering, and communities all over Canada struggle with how best to address this issue."

Plots to vanquish the droppings include bylaws and fines, like in Prince George, B.C., where anyone caught walking their pooch without a doggie bag faces a $100 hit to their wallet.

Other communities take their fecal conquests even further.

Last year, West Vancouver flirted with the possibility of creating a DNA registry for canine pals, so that poop left on the ground could be analyzed in a lab and the offending owners nabbed.

But renegades across the pond may have found a less militant solution.

Fecal recycling?

Brian Harper, an inventor in the United Kingdom, found himself in a dilemma similar to Dopson.

"This path by my house has always been blighted with dog poo," he said, describing shrubbery dotted with bags of waste. "Of course it just sits there and hangs for years."

So Harper set out to find a solution. "I looked hard at dog poo around the world," he said. "It seems to be tackled mostly by regulations and getting the law involved."

The inventor decided on a less punitive method: a "magic machine" that turns dog poop into methane, which then powers a gas lamp.

Using Harper's machine, a dog walker can drop the bag into a vestibule, turn a handle and walk away, bathed in the flickering glow of a streetlight. 

Several Canadian municipalities have already inquired about buying a lamp of their own, he says.

But until a widespread solution catches on, Anne Dopson will be waiting on walking trails with her scoops and buckets.

"This really does have ramifications for people, for other animals," she says. "And it's just disgusting to look at."

To hear more, click on the audio titled 'Spring thaw leaves B.C. crusaders steaming over smelly brown mess'.

With files from Daybreak North's Carolina de Ryk