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ANIMALS

Horse diapers could reduce pavement poop

Berlin, struggling with the problem of horse poop left on city streets from horsedrawn carriages hauling tourists around town, is considering forcing drivers to use “horse diapers” to catch the turds.

Horse diapers could reduce pavement poop
Photo: DPA

But the city’s animal welfare officer thinks the idea stinks. He wants to speak with drivers and encourage them to pick up the poop – a tactic that has already failed.

Legally people who travel around town in a horse and buggy are responsible for getting rid of the poop, but in real life this doesn’t happen, said the Berliner Zeitung in an article published on Saturday.

The turds left on the street are particularly dangerous to cyclists, who weave around them in potentially dangerous maneuvers.

Enter the “horse diaper solution.” City officials are considering requiring horse and buggy owners to use what they refer to as a “Poo Bag” or horse diaper that surrounds the animal and catches the poop before it plops onto the pavement.

“In cities like New York, Dresden and Vienna this is legally required. That’s also our hope for Berlin,” said an official of the “Ordnungsamt,” the regulatory authority in charge of street cleanliness.

Not so fast, says Berlin’s office for city development. The poop problem is mainly in the touristy Mitte neighborhood and not a city-wide problem.

And the city’s animal welfare officer is not amused.

“The drivers should stop on the street and clean up after their animals,” said Klaus Lüdcke, the animal control officer. But he acknowledged that this doesn’t happen.

He is against the diapers. Lüdcke wants to speak with the horse and buggy owners, though the paper noted this has never worked in the past.

The newspaper had perhaps a better suggestion for the city: Shit doesn’t always stink. One person’s poop can be a gardener’s gain, it indicated.

The horse turds, used by many gardeners as fertilizer, are going for €21 for a 20 kilo sack on the internet.

The Local/mw

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