Saving the Bay, One Scoop at a Time
by Mary Kelley Hoppe
I Saved the Bay!
We got a great response to our recent story on dog poop fouling area waterways (see Pooches for the Planet, Summer 2006) – which is obviously a pet peeve for many of our readers.
Reader Sherry Day actually took matters in hand, designing a better pooper scooper, so to speak, with recycled parts that make it easy to replicate. Day is an accidental conservationist. It was a love of dogs and, especially, unwanted pets that got Day thinking about an ingenious way to spread the word while getting dog owners to clean up after their pets. That her doggy-doo bag dispenser also proves to be a do-gooder for the bay was an added and unexpected bonus.
If you have an ingenious idea on how to reduce pollution and protect the bay, please let us know. We’d like to make “I Saved the Bay Today” a regular feature in Bay Soundings. Send your ideas via email to editor@baysoundings.com or drop a line to Bay Soundings in care Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, 4000 Gateway Centre Blvd. Suite 100, Pinellas Park, FL 33782.
I saw the article in Bay Soundings and another in the Tribune. What an amazing problem we have created. To spread my “propaganda,” I recently emailed my neighbors in Hyde Park and offered them my doggie bag dispensers. I had about half-dozen people interested, so I made and delivered them. We now have doggie poo dispensers all through our neighborhood, easily resupplied with old newspaper sleeves. No excuse not to bag it now!
This would be a great craft project for kids, or for individuals who want to create their own doggie bag dispensers.
I hope you can tell it’s the clear two-liter plastic bottles with a refill hole cut in the back and the bottle’s mouth widened as the dispenser on the bottom. It’s easily taped to a pole or nailed to a tree. My preferred insert is one campaigning for all the unwanted pets but one could pre-print any message or campaign. It’s a great way to recycle those daily newspaper bags, too.
Sherry Day sherday@tampabay.rr.com
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Left:
Sherry Day with Sierra.
Right: Bag dispensers in this neighborhood leave no excuse for pet waste left behind.
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