Dog pooping on gravesite photo sparks public shaming debate

A photo posted online of a Calgary woman standing with her dog as it defecated on a gravesite has sparked a debate on public shaming.

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It all started at St. Mary's Cemetery in the city’s southwest — a place that clearly states “no dogs within this area.”

In an obvious attempt to shame the pet owner, the photographer posted the picture to the online forum calgarypuck.com.

"After being notified that dogs are not allowed, this woman admitted to knowing that dogs aren't allowed (apparently the rules don't apply to her).... I hope a dog craps on her grave. What a disrespectful woman," said the post.

The response was massive and included more than a dozen pages of feedback.

"This is irresponsible pet ownership,” stated one post.

Another post targeted the photographer.

"Kinda weak to take the woman's picture and post it on a forum for public shaming."

Public shaming popular on social media

Calgary blogger Mike Morrison says public shaming is becoming more popular in this age of social media.

"I mean I don't know why if you had such a problem with it why you can't just say something and it ends there."

Morrison believes online forums can be a positive place for discussion, but he says this post is a bit over the top.

"It's like when people take photos of people on C-Trains or things like that — like this person is behaving bad. There's no privacy anymore and everything is up for public consumption and I don't think that's fair," he said.

Other Calgarians walking through a local dog park agree.

"There's obviously a lot of people sitting on their butts at home with not much to do," said Kelly Leech.

"She shouldn't have been there, but I think it might be a good idea to take a picture and then contact the city or police but posting — everything gets posted on social media — and that's the real problem," said Louise Forsyth.