Pet poo fines in Maitland?

The city of Maitland is in talks to make its four-legged friends a No. 2 and No. 1 priority. At the Council’s Aug. 9 meeting city staff provided ideas to help stop the city’s pet waste problem in its parks, including possible pick-up failure fines.

Leisure Services Director Chuck Jordan studied the excrement issue after it was brought up at a previous meeting by a local resident, finding that not cleaning up after pets could lead to serious potential health risks for residents and water quality problems in local lakes.

“Aside from the obvious draw back of having waste all over, untreated animal waste often times ends up in lakes and streams causing significant pollution,” Jordan said.

To address this, Jordan suggested getting the public informed about the issue and its consequences, and to consider possible fines for residents who do not comply – both ideas the city will consider implementing at a future meeting.

One possible fix suggested by resident Elizabeth Schneider-Peele and echoed by Councilwoman Linda Frosch was starting pet waste pick-up education early, targeting school children to pass the information up to their parents, shaming them to do the right thing, much like what happens when kindergarteners school their parents to wear their seatbelts. Frosch said it could be modeled after a D.A.R.E like program— pet-waste appropriate program acronym pending.