Apatang: Growing population of stray dogs is one of our biggest concerns

The population on the island of free-roaming dogs—or dogs that no one owns—is growing and that it is one of the biggest concerns of the Office of the Mayor of Saipan, according to Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang.

Trying to keep this problem about roaming dogs under control is difficult, Apatang said, because people seem to have more compassion for them and let them linger in neighborhoods.

“Our experience in implementing the dog control program has taught us that these free-roaming dogs are not owned by anyone but the minute we try to remove them off the streets, we get criticized for our lack of compassion,” he said.

This seemingly never-ending problem with stray dogs has prompted Apatang to support the intent of House Local Bill 22-19, which would make dog owners responsible for the disposal of their pets’ fecal waste. House Local Bill 22-19 is authored by Rep. Denita Kaipat Yangetmai (D-Saipan).

Under the bill, each person who owns or controls a dog must promptly store and remove any feces left behind by that dog on any public property or right of way or on any private property, and sanitarily dispose of it.

The bill states that the Environmental Protection Agency considers dog waste a pollutant of water bodies and it is most often introduced into receiving waters by way of storm water runoff.

Yangetmai

“Dog waste left on the ground increase the exposure of you, your neighbors, and our community to bacteria, viruses and parasites,” said Yangetmai in the bill.

In his comment submitted to the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation about the bill, Apatang said he supports with the bill’s purpose and looks forward to its passage, after the SNILD has given their comments some consideration.

Apatang said their current dog control regulations could use some revisions such as improving definitions of various terms and adding new ones for clarity, improving the registration and license fee structure, improving the fines provision, among a few.

The mayor said the proposed new provision is a command for someone to perform the responsibility of picking up or cleaning the dog’s waste, removing it from where it was picked up, and sanitarily disposing of it.

He said from an initial glance at the proposed provision, it appears to make sense and makes people feel that the underlying concern that has been raised that pushed the proposed legislation forward would be taken care of once and for all, “or at least somewhat.”

“But we believe the proposed provision is maybe just half of what must be legislated to get pet owners or persons in control of a dog to comply,” he said.

Apatang said the proposed provision is overly broad, and the assumption might be that they would promulgate regulations to tighten the intent of the bill. “But that is only an assumption,” he said.

To fully make sense of the proposed provision, Apatang said, they believe it needs to define the term “sanitarily disposed of it” as that is left open to different interpretation.

Apatang

He said their other concern fixes on the point of how to enforce the proposed provision when enacted and a person fails to comply with it.

In other words, Apatang said, enforcement implies policing and gathering information or evidence that a person left a place without picking up, removing, and sanitarily disposing of his pet’s waste.

Apatang said for purposes of this discussion, they would assume that their office’s dog control program would be responsible for seeing that anyone who is in control of a dog complies with the command in the provision.

Given that, he said, they believe it would be a task that their dog control program would find grossly impractical to carry out, as their program has only six staff members with four assigned to physically police the entire island.

Without residents in neighborhoods helping their dog control program record violations or closed circuit televisions in public areas to record real-time activities in public places, they project that less than a handful of pet owners will comply.

“The local bill must add more to make the command meaningful,” he said.

Apatang said they believe the local bill should, at a minimum, authorize their office, if the intent were that they would be responsible for making sure pet owners follow the command, to promulgate regulations to impose monetary fines for violation of the command.

He said their current regulations allow them to impound dogs, charge, and collect impoundment, registration and license fees, but not fines for violation of any command similar to that contained in the proposed provision.

Apatang said their recommendation is for the SNILD to modify the bill and insert a provision that would authorize the mayor’s office to cite violators and impose monetary fines, plus a provision empowering the mayor’s office to collect and expend the fines strictly for implementing the Saipan dog control program.

The mayor recommends passing the local bill as a CNMI-wide legislative bill.

He said in the findings section of the bill, the pronouncement by the Legislature that dog waste is considered a pollutant of water tells them that dog waste is, in fact, a big problem and a serious threat to human health and the environment.

Apatang said because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has labeled dog waste a pollutant to water bodies, dealing with the issue requires a CNMI-wide effort, rather than restricting it to an agency in the municipal government.

He recommends amending the Commonwealth Litter Control Act of 1989 to add the proposed legislation as a new provision.

The mayor said designating litter control officers that are authorized by the Commonwealth Litter Control Act to cite violators of the Litter Act would probably yield better results, as there are multiple certified litter apprehending officers designated by various government agencies.

Apatang said while their office may play a role in carrying out the intent of the proposed legislation, the agency most appropriate to deal with concerns like pollutants would be the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality.