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Bogota residents build ‘public bathrooms’ for dogs

By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director

Tuesdayday, April 20, 2010

Tired with excessive dog droppings in the city´s parks and sidewalks the residents of four districts of Bogota have built some ‘public bathrooms’ for the city´s dogs. 

The so called ‘bathrooms’ are round sandpits made of cement, where lime powder is mixed with the sand to neutralize any bad odors and avoid the spread of fecal bacteria. 

Residents of the Suba district recently gathered 320,000 pesos (US$ 160) to place such a structure in Murato Park. 

“Local people were not bringing bags to pick up their dogs´ feces, so when we visited the park we had to hop around to avoid stepping on the excrement.” said building administrator Olinda Garcia.

The canine bathrooms are being built by a company called Lime, which is supplying free labor as long as residents get money for construction materials. 

The excrements do not go down a sewage system as they do in toilets however, so dog owners must still scoop them up and place them in an adjacent trashcan.

Nevertheless, local residents say that the round structures are useful, as they become a fixed point where all dogs can relieve themselves, thus avoiding random pooping and peeing in parks and sidewalks. 

“The smell of the urine from other dogs attracts them to these spots” said Lime´s community relations director Israel Rodriguez, adding that the lime powder that is mixed with the sand helps to keep insects away. 

The Bogota government is also trying to get humans not to pee behind bushes and in dark alleys.  

It currently operates 33 public bathroom stations at Transmilenio Portals and public buildings as well as 311 mobile bathrooms in 80 parks around the city.