A Yellowknife man claims to have collected more than 200 bags of dog poo from a local park in a bid to ward off a monstrous spring melt.
Martin Emslander broke through the 200-bag barrier on Friday while out on his usual walk with dog Archie at Fred Henne Territorial Park.
Emslander said the heroic act was designed to ensure dog walkers don’t lose access to the park because of dog waste left lying around.
“I appreciate the use of the park, basically. It’s beautiful in there. I would hate to lose that privilege,” he told Cabin Radio.
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“If somebody’s not cleaning up, maybe it would go away. So I figured, why not? And I don’t want to come back in the spring when it’s all mushy and gross.”
Emslander’s personal quest was outed on Facebook by partner Janet Pacey, who uploaded a photo of Emslander with several of the offending packages and proudly declared: “Just today he picked up 33 bags!”
The photograph was flooded with appreciative comments from local residents, some of whom questioned why other, irresponsible dog owners were leaving so much work for him to do.
“It started when Archie would trek out on his own and I wouldn’t always catch him at it,” explained Emslander.
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“So, in order to make up for that, I’d pick up other poop I happened to come across. Then I started thinking, ‘You know what, let’s just grab everything you can find.’
“If there’s a noticeable difference from this spring to last spring, that would be cool.”
Emslander isn’t aware of anyone else with a similar poop-collecting record, but said he’d be happy “if other people jump on the bandwagon.”
Meanwhile, he’s looking to set a significant personal best having already reached a double-century of baggies.
“Originally, I thought 200 would be about the range, but now I’ve managed to surpass that. I’m going to see where it takes me,” he said.
“As I find it, I pick it up.”
