Council drops itself in it with pooper scoop plan

Not just for dogs: the rules would force some property owners to collect droppings left by sheep, pigs and goats. Photo / Supplied

Animal owners could be forced to follow their private flocks with pooper scoopers if a new law is passed in Dunedin.

The city council is considering new rules which would force some property owners to collect the droppings left behind by animals including sheep, pigs and goats.

The rules would not apply to commercial or lifestyle farms, but would cover all residential and rural residential properties in Dunedin with livestock. The rules, still only in draft form, are already causing a stink.

"The world's gone mad," said Mosgiel Taieri Community Board member Chris Adams yesterday.

He runs four sheep on a 1.6ha block of residentially-zoned land at Kinmont, near Mosgiel, "just to keep my freezer full".

"It's just crazy. I can't believe with all the problems of the world we are worrying about this." Middlemarch Community Board chairman Barry Williams said the proposal was "bloody ridiculous".

Mr Williams owns several properties including one rural residential section with 100 ewes on it, and said he had "no intention" of picking up after them.

"You would have to put a bucket under all the sheep. It's unbelievable. It's nuts, completely nuts."

The rules are in the council's draft Keeping of Animals (Excluding Dogs) and Poultry Bylaw 2010. The proposal aims to protect the public from noise, nuisance and health and safety threats caused by animals.

Animal waste, it says, should either be stored in a fly-proof container and disposed of, or buried under at least 50mm of soil.

Councillor Kate Wilson stressed the bylaw remained "a work in progress". "These things are always good to put out first, before we adopt them, to see how practical they are."

There were empty rural residential sections in Middlemarch - as elsewhere - that required grazing by sheep to keep grass down, and the concerns raised were "very valid", she said.

The bylaw was likely to be used only when a neighbour complained, she said.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES