For Javier Zhicay, Micky and Luna are like his children. He is thirteen years old walking them every day down 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights.
“They go out five times a day to relieve themselves, they need a lot of care, they are like a baby,” Zhicay said.
Javier is aware that he has to clean up after his pets, but not everyone does the same. Dog waste is easy to find on any block in this neighborhood.
“You can’t go out eating an ice cream because it disgusts you,” said Juana Francisco, a neighbor.
Since the start of the pandemic, the city stopped issuing citations for this violation. But recently, Jessica Tish, the commissioner of the Department of Cleaning, announced that they will sanction those who do not clean.
Cleaning department officials and police officers will be enforcing the regulation.
“It would be worth it for them to fine, although they already fined me once. They fined me 495 like two years ago,” Zhicay said. “I was fined because I was leading them off the leash.”
Violations for failing to pick up pet waste start at $250 and go up to almost $500.
Warning signs are posted in many neighborhoods, but residents say most people don’t see them.
“When we are walking, normally the puppies are always looking at them, looking at what they are eating, what they are smelling. Very few times in my case I walk the other way, upstairs when I’m with them,” said William Bonilla, another neighbor.
“If they put up the signs and people would see the signs, it would be an obligation to the fine that would put 200 or more dollars, ‘so’, it does apply there,” said Ramona Valera.
At the moment, the Department of Sanitation has put a message on social networks in which it does not threaten fines but simply calls for the public to collect their pet waste.
“If you love #dogs as much as we do, please pick up (their waste). Let’s keep #NYC healthy, safe and clean with our pets,” Sanitation writes.
#DSNY ❤️ dogs. If you love #dogs as much as we do, then please pick up after them. Let’s keep #NYC healthy, safe and clean with our pets. Report animal waste here: https://t.co/hla24xOQkK pic.twitter.com/kdRw6AyGZe
— NYC Sanitation (@NYCSanitation) May 12, 2022
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