Southold Town To Update Pooper Scooper Law

With and the new Sup with pet waste, officials plan to pass a resolution Tuesday night to make this town’s existing ‘pooper scooper’ law more comprehensive and effective.

The Town’s existing pooper scooper law requires dog owners to pickup after their pets on all town properties, public and private, and specifically forbids dog owners to leave behind pet feces on town parks and beaches. It is up to each individual property owner to allow pet waste to remain.

But Deputy Director of Public Works Jeff Standish told the board during work session Tuesday morning that the accumulation of dog waste at the town’s new dog park in Peconic is “getting out of control” — even with signs and bags available at the park.

“It’s hard to weed-wack or do any maintenance,” he said.

Supervisor Scott Russell suggested putting up a sign that the park would be shut down if people didn’t clean up after their dogs.

“If we can’t enforce the pooper scooper law on Town-owned land then we can’t enforce it anywhere,” he said.

Town Attorney Martin Finnegan said that the updated wetlands law would include the requirement to clean up after all pets including dogs, and it would also make feeding of seagulls subject to police enforcement in town.

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