DOG PARK: Responsibility missing

I recently visited the dog park near Cherry Hill. I remember it as being a clean, pleasant place to take my dog. The park is a literal cesspool. At the first gate there is about 8 inches of standing water. Walking along the perimeter of the park, it is solid feces. As a dog owner, I understand the occasional dog owner who doesn’t see their dog. But this is absolutely not the case. You simply cannot walk anywhere without stepping on poo unless you walk on the ice.

My real concern, however, is the standing water at the gates. The park is on a hill, and all that snow melt with the dog feces is draining directly into the pool that has formed at the entrance to the park. You and your dog have to wade through it to get into the park.

Thinking that this was a health hazard to dogs and people, especially children, I decided to report it. Coeur d’Alene parks and waterways said that it wasn’t their responsibility to clean up after the dogs, and nothing could be done about it. Panhandle Health said unless it was a sewer or cesspool, there was nothing that could be done.

I wonder who would be responsible if someone were to get ill from that park? Shame on the dog owners who allowed that filth to happen in a once beautiful park. I hope they shut it down! They don’t deserve to have a nice place to take their dogs!

SUSAN CALVERT

Hayden