(Sorry) Mind the mess: dog poo in Sampa

Sao Paulo has far less dog pooy pavements than Buenos Aires (and probably France). Seriously, I don’t think I’ve lived in a place with so much dog poo on the pavements. It was estimated in 2014 that dogs left 70,000 kg of poo per day in the city of Buenos Aires. Some days I could block it out, but other days it would make my stomach churn. So, initially, the pavements in Sao Paulo (although also in a terrible state) were a dream. Until…
 
… the other day when I was pushing my daughter in her buggy and drove it straight into a load of turd. And fresh at that. To be fair, the owner was about to pick it up; however I didn’t see her and as everyone walks so slowly in Sampa, I was just trying to get past and get on with my day. 

Although the owner was kind of taking responsibility, she still let her dog poo in the middle of the pavement. Buenos Aires has a lot of stray dogs, whereas I have yet to see a stray dog in Sao Paulo. So from what I’ve seen, if Sao Paulo has very few stray dogs, that’s even worse as it is the owners who are letting their dogs defecate on the streets.

Ok I’m not a dog owner so I can’t say but surely it’s not that hard to carry a bag and scoop up the mess. Sao Paulo is becoming more environmentally conscious; in 2015 the city stated that supermarkets could only offer plastic bags made from plant-based plastics. A side-issue I realise, but my point being is that plastic bags are widely available. And when you do have to pay for a bag at the supermarket, it’s only about 8 centavos (~2.5p). 

I have to say I’ve been amazed at how clean the public parks are, particularly Ibirapuera and Villa Lobos – admittedly the only ones I’ve been to so far. I was worried about putting our rug on the grass for fear of contamination, but to my relief I haven’t seen a poo in sight. It’s good to have some respite in the city, yet the pavement issue remains.  

It’s the height of summer now, when rainfall is expected to reach its peak. In January and February, Sao Paulo receives an average of 170mm of rain, compared with 10mm in August. I’m not sure where the poo will go but at least it’ll be washed away somewhere that I can’t see it. 






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