Sitkans love dogs. Take a hike along any of the Sitka trail systems, and you'll invariably run into a dog owner with some happy dogs. We like to think we're living in the last frontier, and are more rustic and back to the land kinda people, right? Our dogs should be allowed to run free, bark all night if they want, and poop wherever they're at.
Oh. Some people don't agree. Apparently the majority of Sitkans don't agree, because we do have an animal ordinance that governs leash laws and sanitary disposal:
8.04.092 Sanitary disposal requirements.
A. No keeper may permit a dog to be in any of the leash law areas unless the keeper has immediately available a container which is intended to be used to remove any fecal matter left by the dog and a suitable container in which the fecal matter is to be stored until properly disposed of.
B. A keeper who permits a dog to be in any of the leash law areas must immediately remove all fecal matter left by the dog on such property.
(Ord. 02-1656 § 4(A), 2002.)
Yet, a few years back, an argument flared up in one of Sitka's forums wherein some animal owners vehemently argued they had the right to allow dogs to poop wherever they wanted-- including in YOUR yard--because, by damn, this is ALASKA!
I don't like cleaning dog shit from my new sneakers, personally. I've seen dog shit accidentally stepped in, tracked through the city sidewalks. Tell me, does this pile of poop juxtaposed against our majestic May snowcapped mountains look natural, or objectionable?
