B.C. man flagging poor pooch poop etiquette — literally

A White Rock, B.C., man is taking the crappy behaviour of his fellow park users into his own hands.

As a nature photographer, A.P. Hovasse spends plenty of time in Metro Vancouver’s regional parks, where he said he’s grown frustrated with a common trend.

“Every once in a while you run into a little white plastic bag which is instantly recognizable as someone’s dog poop,” he told Global News.

“It seems kind of ridiculous to go to the effort of putting your dog’s poop in a bag, and then to turn around and undo all that good work by throwing it on the path, or in a bush or in a tree.”

Exacerbated by the excrement, Hovasse starting thinking about what he could do about it.

Initially he was thinking about making posters, when inspiration struck.

“They’re just a small flag. I have little pictures of plastic bags on them, and then I’ve got text that says ‘really? WTF dog walkers,’ he said.

Smaller print beneath tells the poop scofflaws not to be jerks, and to take their dog’s waste to a nearby trash can.

Hovasse posted about the idea on Instagram, where he also offered to share a PDF of the flag design for others to use.

“I’ve got requests for this PDF from all over Vancouver, from across Canada, from the UK, some in the states … it’s an idea that really seems to have caught on,” he said.

Hovasse was emphatic that his problem isn’t with dogs, but the irresponsible behaviour of their owners.

He said feedback on his project has been “99 per cent” positive, with a few people worried about pollution. The flags, he said, are made of bamboo and paper, which he believes will biodegrade quickly.

“I intend to keep doing this because it is kind of a disgusting habit, I think it is important to say something about this, start a conversation — it appears there hasn’t been that much conversation about it to beginning with,” he said.

“It would be nice if my flags got to stay in my pack, but I’ve got a feeling that won’t be the case for a while.”