Collecting dog excrement, law or recommendation in Haifa?

In May 2015, the municipality issued a statement: Vigorous enforcement against dog owners - whose dogs are found defecating in the public domain We are blessed that they will start enforcing the dog owners

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Responsibility of dog owners

The dog owners do not respect the law and do not collect the feces after the dogs and sometimes even worse, they let the dog walk without the leash and thus ignore another law
Therefore, they cannot see where the dog defecated.

Enforcement by Haifa Municipality

The municipality does not take care of law enforcement beyond placing warning signs.
The municipality does not send inspectors and the excrement is on the sidewalks, inside the private parking lots and in every public garden.

Cleaning by Haifa Municipality

The street cleaners rarely come to the inner streets inside the neighborhoods, compared to their frequent arrival to the streets and main thoroughfares that the municipality takes care to cultivate in order to beautify the "face of the city of Haifa".
That is, for the municipality, nurturing the face of the city is more important than nurturing the quality of life of the residents.
On our street (Shlomzion Ha Malka in Carmelia) the residents walk their dogs from parking lot to parking lot, enter the parking lots, behind the cars so that the dogs can defecate on an area that is actually a private area.
From conversations with neighbors it is clear that they do not understand the law that says to collect excrement from a public area and not from a private area which they are not supposed to enter at all.
Those who do not collect or those who let the dogs out for a walk alone cause the parking lots to be full of feces and the municipality refuses to send a cleaner on the grounds that it is a private area and we have to take care of cleaning it ourselves.

Mothers avoid going to the playgrounds in the neighborhood

Even in the public gardens you may come across dog excrement, near the children's play facilities. As a new mother who really wants to travel with the baby in a stroller, I avoid doing so because I don't enjoy "jumping" between feces and worrying every moment where I step and what. That's why I usually go to the beach or to main public places, where the municipality takes care of regular cleaning (and proper sidewalks that allow passage with strollers...but that's another topic). Neglecting this subject, in my opinion, borders on a health hazard. I have often seen the owners of the dogs go out in the afternoon to playgrounds with the children and the dog together and a situation is created in which the dogs defecate in the playground. In such a situation, even if the dog owners pick up the feces after them, it is not enough because there is always "leftovers" and "smearings" In places where children play, sometimes barefoot, sometimes sitting, lying down, rolling around, etc... In my opinion, the municipality should prohibit the entry of dogs into the area designated as a playground for toddlers and children by placing signs, fencing the garden and sending inspectors to make surprise visits to the playgrounds.

We are aware of the serious nuisance and therefore the municipality has been carrying out increased enforcement activity against dog owners who defecate in the public domain for several months. In this framework, the municipal inspectors have already registered dozens of financial fines totaling NIS 475 against the dog owners - an amount that will soon rise with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in the Knesset to - NIS 730.

At the same time, the municipality continues enforcement against stray dogs. In this framework, during the year 2015, about 500 dogs were brought to the quarantine station after they were found wandering without their owners. The dogs were released after their owners paid a fine of 500 shekels, a transport fee of 83 shekels, and 36.5 shekels for each day spent in the kennels. The owners of dogs caught without vaccination and license were fined in addition to all these in the amount of NIS 1500 and released after vaccination and obtaining a license as required by law.
The dogs were caught in all the neighborhoods of the city as part of routine enforcement designed to reduce the phenomenon, prevent the risk of attack, and reduce the nuisance caused to the residents.

Next week - January 17.1.2016, XNUMX, as mentioned, the municipality will launch, in cooperation with the residents of the Carmelia neighborhood, a comprehensive plan to deal with the hazard, which indeed bothers many of the city's residents. The program that will be launched next week combines several units in the municipality, the education system and especially the residents of the neighborhood and will be managed in direct and ongoing contact with the community. Carmelia was chosen to implement the program following many requests from the residents of the neighborhood on the subject and based on its success it will be decided to expand it in the future to all the neighborhoods of the city.

Without public awareness and the residents' willingness to cooperate, the phenomenon cannot be eradicated, and therefore the plan will include educational and informational activities among school students and residents, increased enforcement activity, overt and covert, the establishment of a dog park, community activities of Herzl school students and the scout movement, and a direct link between the hotline the municipal for the residents of the neighborhood. As we wrote, the veterinary service doctors will conduct classes on the relationship between residents and animals in the urban environment. The right way to raise and properly care for animals. The danger and nuisance caused by dogs wandering around without supervision and the nuisance caused by leaving dog excrement in the public space.

In addition to the lessons that will be given to the students of the Herzl School, which is a full partner of the program, the students will participate together with the Scouts movement in outreach activities in the kindergartens and among the residents of the neighborhood. The students will talk to the residents and hand out eagles that they will prepare based on the material they will learn about the subject.
In addition, activity to locate stray dogs and enforcement of the collection of dog excrement by their owners will be increased in the neighborhood. The activity will be carried out openly and covertly by the inspectors of the General Inspection Division who will patrol the neighborhood at all hours of the day. At the same time, a dog park will be established in the neighborhood and bag facilities will be scattered for the convenience of dog owners.
The municipal hotline 106 will follow up on inquiries from residents of the neighborhood and regulate the activity.

Based on the analysis of references, conclusions will be drawn for the continuation and expansion of the program to additional neighborhoods in the city, at the same time as the increased enforcement that is already taking place in all the neighborhoods of the city.

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