By: Sharon Aron Baron
Did you know that the City of Tamarac has an ordinance requiring people to remove their dog poop? According to a Tamarac official, it isn’t easy to enforce. Why? Because To issue a Notice of Violation, a police officer must witness the violation. So don’t waste your time calling BSO if you see this type of crime on our streets. These emergencies are not high on their list of priorities, even though many residents believe this is akin to committing a felony.
Neighborhoods must be held responsible and enforce their own set of rules if owners refuse to pick up after their dogs. Hernani is a town in Northern Spain that has set up a DNA database to track down reluctant pooper-scoopers. This works because all pet owners in this town must have their dog’s DNA put in their database. Any poop found in the streets will be collected by a “team” and sent to their laboratories for analysis. Owners whose dogs match the DNA will be tracked down and will face fines up to $400. I don’t foresee the City of Tamarac going as far as the town of Hernani.
Original ordinance from the City of Tamarac that addresses this issue:
Sec. 4-4. Duty to remove excrement exception. It shall be unlawful for any person in control of, causing or permitting any animal to be on any property, public or private, not owned or possessed by such person to fail to scoop and remove excrement left by such animal to a proper receptacle located on property owned or possessed by such person. By state statute, this provision is waived for blind persons assisted by Seeing-Eye dogs and non-human primates of the genus Cebus, used by a person with paraplegia or quadriplegia, specially trained and providing personal care services to a paraplegic or quadriplegic person. (Code 1975, § 4-4; Ord. No. 2001-17, § 2, 10-10-01)
What’s this? I had to look up to see what a “non-human primate of the genus Cebus” is. Maybe this Cebus is like my little dog, whose droppings are so small I have to comb the grass looking for them to pick up.
I learned this is another word for monkey. I had to do a Google search to see if monkeys really help people with quadriplegia, as stated in the code. I was surprised to learn that there are quite a few organizations that train monkeys to assist disabled people. One example is a non-profit organization called Helping Hands that trains monkeys to assist veterans and disabled people.
I hope these cute little service monkeys (who, according to the ordinance, are not required to have their poop picked up) do not become some trend for Broward residents who claim their pets are service animals. They get these “certificates” from their doctors for dogs that have had zero training. This way, they can skirt the rules in their condos, banning pets, as well as being able to bring their dogs into restaurants and on airplanes.
So don’t forget to always pick up after your dog in your neighborhood and at the dog park. In this age of cell phone cameras, we must never forget to carry bags just in case someone may try to report you to the police.
Unless, of course, you have a genus Cebus.
