April Stools: Volunteers clean up after growing dog population
Volunteers clean up Wheeler Nature Park. Photo by Claire MacQueen.
Volunteers gathered for “April Stool’s Day” in a small-but-distanced circle near the entrance to Wheeler Nature Park on April 10.
Each grabbed one of the provided black trash bags and a few pairs of latex gloves — ready to spend the next few hours collecting dog poop around the park.
As the weather warms, dog waste that has been left over the winter, buried in the snow, is much more apparent. It can have a negative impact on human health and the environment, especially as it gets into waterways.
Before the volunteers set out to begin picking up, Lisa Swislocki, master naturalist and one of the event leaders, spoke about why she had proposed the event.
“I was walking in Red Rocks right after the snow melted, and it was just appalling. Everywhere I looked, there were turds, and it was disgusting. Unpleasant for me as a person, and I know that it has a terrible, terrible impact on the ecosystem,” said Swislocki.
The second leader of the event and another master naturalist, Drew Shatzner, elaborated on the impacts to ecosystems.
“There’s blood-borne pathogens that linger in this stuff and make their way to the nearest waterway. It’s all connected,” said Shatzner.
Dog waste can contain bacteria and even parasites harmful to human health, such as the E. coli and salmonella bacteria.
He added that the city’s drinking water source, Lake Champlain, is directly next to Red Rocks, where Swislocki first noticed the large amount of dog waste. Wheeler Park is part of the Lake Champlain Direct basin, meaning that smaller streams and tributaries in the area flow directly into Lake Champlain.
Dog waste differs from that of wild animals, who consume food from the ecosystem around them. Domestic dogs instead consume a high-nutrient diet from a bag, and their waste contains these excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that can make their way to Lake Champlain and trigger cyanobacteria growth and algal blooms.
These growths, as well as E. Coli present in the water, have been the cause of increased shutdowns for recreational activity in Lake Champlain during the summer season. Last year, in 2020, beaches were closed 44 times over the summer season, compared to 11 in 2019.
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics estimates that 100 dogs can produce more than 500 pounds of waste a week. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that two to three days’ worth of waste from this same sample size would contribute enough bacteria that would necessitate the temporary closure of a waterbody.
Patty Tashiro and JoAnn Nichols are co-founders of Heart Wildlife Removal, which serves as animal control for the South Burlington Police Department. Both attended the event.
They routinely patrol parks in order to make sure people are following guidelines around dogs in public areas, both around the issue of leashing dogs as well as picking up their waste. They lean toward a method of education, outreach and positive reinforcement during these patrols.
“I don’t think everybody realizes that dog waste isn’t fertilizer that will decompose and positively benefit the environment — it is actually toxic with bacteria that, if too much of it accumulates, it can close a beach,” said Tashiro.
In addition to pet waste, there is the issue of people bagging up their dog’s waste and leaving the bags scattered throughout parks. On April Stool’s day, many of these bags were found left on the ground beside trails or tucked into trees. Others were found to have been ripped open by wildlife. Bagging waste and leaving it inside a natural area does not stop the spread of dog waste, but also contributes plastic waste.
According to a city report done in 2020, there has been a 29 percent increase in registered dogs in the city between 2011-2019.
As of April 1, there are 1,044 dogs registered in South Burlington.
City clerk Donna Kinville does not believe those numbers to accurately represent the number of dogs in the city, estimating the real number should be at least twice that.
“I would say we should have at least 2,500 dogs, based on our population,” said Kinville.
She also acknowledged that the pandemic had an impact on these numbers in a few different ways. Though the number of registered dogs was less in 2020 than in 2019, closures due to the pandemic had an impact on the community’s ability to register earlier in the year.
On the other hand, there has been a nationwide increase in pet adoptions during the pandemic as people spent more time at home, which would hypothetically lead to a higher number of dogs in South Burlington.
“We’re hoping through education to reach some of them to help clarify why it’s important,” said Tashiro.
