Berkeleysider Alan Saldich has a question for certain Berkeley dog owners: why don’t they dispose of the poop after they’ve gone to the trouble of scooping it?

“It really amazes me that dog owners go to all the admittedly gross effort (which I exert several times a day) to pick up feces in a little plastic bag, and then just leave it there, rather than carrying it and depositing it in the garbage,” he writes.

“As I walk Claremont canyon and many other routes around Berkeley, I’m continually astounded by a seemingly popular habit people have — bagging their dog s*** and then gently placing it in its bag alongside the trail,” he says. “And to presume that somebody else is going to happily clean up after you adds insult to injury. Who are these people? Well, I guess they are us, Berkeley residents…”

When hiking recently with his two dogs, Saldich says he passed about six or seven bags on the way up and then down Claremont Canyon and Panoramic Way, and he snapped the photographs above as evidence. (What the New York Times thinks of its distinctive blue bags being used for such a purpose is a whole other question.)

“It’s simultaneously amazing and disgusting,” he said.

Your thoughts?

Update 11:20 am: Apparently the city of Berkeley is growing more concerned about loose dogs and their leave behinds, as evidenced by this flyer put up recently at Grove Park.

Hat tip: Brandon Williams

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Tracey Taylor is co-founder of Berkeleyside and co-founder and editorial director of Cityside, the nonprofit parent to Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside. Before launching Berkeleyside, Tracey wrote for...