Council drops itself in it with pooper scoop plan

Animal owners could be forced to follow their private flocks with pooper scoopers if a new law is passed in Dunedin.

The city council is considering new rules which would force some property owners to collect the droppings left behind by animals including sheep, pigs and goats.

The rules would not apply to commercial or lifestyle farms, but would cover all residential and rural residential properties in Dunedin with livestock. The rules, still only in draft form, are already causing a stink.

"The world's gone mad," said Mosgiel Taieri Community Board member Chris Adams yesterday.

(...) Sounds like cow tax all over again!

Mr Williams owns several properties including one rural residential section with 100 ewes on it, and said he had "no intention" of picking up after them.

"You would have to put a bucket under all the sheep. It's unbelievable. It's nuts, completely nuts."

The rules are in the council's draft Keeping of Animals (Excluding Dogs) and Poultry Bylaw 2010. The proposal aims to protect the public from noise, nuisance and health and safety threats caused by animals.

So, who's going to pick up after the geese because she shit all over the bike trail, and on the quay where people get in their kayaks. That definitely needs a council bill for that.

Oh, and how about the cats! They did up my garden, and crap all over the place.

Animal waste, it says, should either be stored in a fly-proof container and disposed of, or buried under at least 50mm of soil.

remember, this includes cat shit, and duck/geese shit too

Councillor Kate Wilson stressed the bylaw remained "a work in progress". "These things are always good to put out first, before we adopt them, to see how practical they are."

A work in progress? how much time have they put into this? not much thought just dollar signs.

There were empty rural residential sections in Middlemarch - as elsewhere - that required grazing by sheep to keep grass down, and the concerns raised were "very valid", she said.

Really now?!

The bylaw was likely to be used only when a neighbour complained, she said.

What???

The complaining society... "I hate my neighbour and how can I get back at him!"... great, another way of being legally uncivil.. !

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES