– This is not okay.
That’s what Stein-Terje Knutsen says about all the dog poo he sees when he walks his dog Louie by the breakwater in Kabelvåg, a popular hiking area in the Lofoten conurbation.
Knutsen says that just before Christmas he took the spade with him and removed 16 bushes, because it simply didn’t look right.
This week he did the same and found just as many. When he returned later that day, he found dog feces again in the same place he had removed them.
Now he’s tired of people not picking up and throwing away his dog’s poo.
TUR: Six-month-old Louie is Stein-Terje Knutsen’s second dog. Photo: Private
– Not pestilence and trouble
The irritation caused him to write a post on the Facebook group “Ospslagstavla Kabelvåg”. He has received several hundred likes and many comments, writes Lofoten Post, who first mentioned the matter.
– If the dog poops in a ditch, I can understand it, but on the breakwater it doesn’t look the hell, he says to the newspaper.
He asks people to take responsibility.
– Dog owners should take responsibility. It shouldn’t be like this that school classes and kindergartens have to be careful so they don’t step in dog shit, says Knutsen to TV 2.
– Dogs should be an enrichment for people and society, not a plague and a nuisance. It’s awkward that the dogs shit in such an area, he says.
Knutsen believes that people who are unable to pick up the poo’s faeces should relocate their dog.
Lofotværingen says that most people are good and pick up their dog’s faeces, but says that the few who don’t pick up become very visible in the white snow.
– Dog owners who are good are put in a bad light by the few who don’t have the sense to pick up. When there are 16 pooes by the jetty, the other walkers probably think that my dog has contributed to it, he says.
Another problem
It is not just in Kabelvåg that dog poo causes irritation. In a number of other local media it is a theme, summer and winter.
Communications adviser at the Norwegian Kennel Club, Anne Livø Buvik, says that it is particularly in parks and popular hiking areas in cities and towns that the dog poo problem is greatest.
Buvik points out that there are several cities that state in their police statutes that you cannot throw dog poo.
– It is not okay to leave the shit behind, says the communications advisor.
She does not know whether people have become better or worse at taking responsibility for their pet’s excrement, but says that there have been more dog owners in recent years.
– There have been many new dog owners in recent years in connection with the pandemic. It also certainly means more dog owners who are not so aware and educated, says Buvik.
PICK UP: Communications adviser at the Norwegian Kennel Club, Anne Livø Buvik, says it is folk custom to pick up dog excrement. Photo: NKK
The Norwegian Kennel Club says that a lack of litter boxes causes another problem to arise as well.
– Some pick up the poo in a bag, but then they throw the bag on the ground again. They realize that they have to walk with the bag for a few kilometers if there are no rubbish bins nearby.
– Then it’s better to just leave the crap and preferably get it away from the path, since it disappears after a few weeks, she says.
Admission
Rubbish bins at the breakwater Knutsen believes could have contributed to solving the poo crisis at the breakwater in Kabelvåg, at least partially.
– People are lazy too. They think that the poo magically disappears, says Knutsen.
GARBAGE CANS: The mayor of Vågan, Frank Johansen, says that they will deploy more garbage cans in Kabelvåg. Photo: Vågan municipality
– I understand that it’s not fun to walk with the poo bag in your hand for several kilometers. Rubbish bins would have been an enrichment for everyone, he says.
The Norwegian Kennel Club also believes it can be a solution.
– We will get rubbish bins, but I don’t know if that will solve the problem, says mayor Frank Johansen (Sp) in Vågan municipality.
– We are like most people, some are good, some not so good. I think many people find that they go to places they think that not many others go and think that it is not that careful, says the mayor.
He admits that he himself is not always as good at picking up after the bird as he is in the forest. But says he picks up after the animal when he walks along roads.
