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Canine lovers keep Vienna's reputation as dog toilet intact
October 15, 2006 Edition 1
IVONNE MARSCHALL
With Austria's general elections over, the government voted out, and negotiations for a new coalition about to start, the Viennese can concentrate on important issues again.
Other cities may worry about crime rates, pollution or traffic jams. But in Vienna, it is dog poop that has emotions running high.
Despite existing regulations, the concept of putting their dog's excrement in a bag and dropping it in the next rubbish bin escapes most of Vienna's dog owners. Only a minority of the city's estimated 158 000 canine lovers clean up after their pets.
Enforcement is lax to non-existing, many dog owners argue that they pay dog fees to the city anyway, ignoring the fact that paying for a dog licence has nothing to do with cleaning away dog faeces.
Each year Vienna spends about E7 million (R68 million`) to clean the streets of up to 300 000 so-called hundstruemmerl ("dog thingies") Vienna's barking inhabitants produce per day.
With their children forced to play on streets covered in excrement, parents fed up with the city's unfulfilled promises to alleviate the situation launched a citizen's initiative earlier this year.
Almost 10 percent of the population, more than 157 000 Viennese, signed the online petition "Parents against Dog Droppings" between February and April.
"Vienna is a dog toilet," the petition argues, saying that the problem is an urban stress factor.
City authorities were startled into action by the strong response to the petition and promised to deal with the issue.
Last week, a large-scale poster campaign was launched in the presence of a number of local politicians and dignitaries.
Posters showing a cute terrier and the slogan "take a baggy for my poop" will try to convince Vienna's dog owners to bag their pet's faeces instead of leaving it on pavements, streets and in parks.
City councillor Ulli Sima, responsible for environmental issues, said in a press release this was only one part of the city's campaign to remind dog owners of their responsibilities. Other media will be employed as well.
"We want to reach as many dog owners as possible, remind them of existing regulations and show them the easiest solution for the canine excrement problem: put it in a bag and off to the next bin," Sima said.
On paper, fines for leaving dog droppings are hefty at up to E72. These rules, however, are seldom enforced, and most of those holding the leash have little sense of guilt. - Sapa-DPA
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