Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Massive Problem of Human Poo in Our Local Parks
~ NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED ~
As far as i can tell from many friends in different boroughs, this is a problem not exclusive to my local park and seems to blight pretty much every London park. However, many of you who do not own dogs may not be aware of this problem.
There is an extremely serious and profuse problem in Downhills Park with human faeces.
On a daily basis there are new faeces in the park, not only in wooded, shrubby areas but also in completely open areas such as on open grass, bases of trees or on the field etc.!
Apart from the obvious disgust and stench it causes, It is also a massive health hazard to children, park visitors, dog owners as well as dogs who have been made violently ill and have even died from consuming human faeces produced from drug-abusers (the human waste contains EDIT: drugs). Have you ever had to clear up dog-vomit that was made up of 100% human poo? COME ON HARINGEY, HELP US?!?!?
Any responsible dog owner (who by the way, all make sure they clean up after their dog's own mess - dog mess is pretty much eradicated in Downhills) can confirm to you that the problem of human excrement is a massive one because dogs tend to sniff out and eat the human faeces. Sadly, our cute 4-legged friends have a very dark and unpleasant side.
Dogs DO NOT eat other dog/animal faeces (EDIT: apparently some dogs do eat other animal poo eg: fox or cat poo) which is how this poo is identifiable. There are often wet-wipes, newspaper or toilet roll papers accompanying the mess which also indicate that it's human in nature. It is not just drug-addicts and homeless doing this, many dog walkers i know have witnessed people actually defecating and walking away, as well as parents letting children defecate in open areas and walking away. I myself have seen men enter the park, enter the bushes and 10 mins later come out the bushes pulling their trousers up (apparently dressed for work!).
Myself and my dog-walking friends try to text eachother when we come across human faeces to try to warn and avoid their dogs also getting into the mess. Most days, us dog-owners are having to bring our dogs with human excrement around their faces into our houses to bathe them and clean/disinfect ourselves and our houses. Do you have any idea how much of a nightmare this is?
I have used this park for 2.5 years and in the last 1 year the problem has become extreme. Because now the human poo is right there in the middle of the grass for any child to come across.
I know many people who are very concerned about this and feel threatened by the drug addicts and drug dealers who are frequenting the park as well as homeless people but feel they are powerless to do anything about it. A petition was apparently ignored by Haringey council, surprise surprise. I know that public toilets can be breeding grounds for drug abuse but surely it would help eradicate this foul problem? On another note, they are planning on using part of the park land to build tall flats, so surely the extra people around will only add fuel to the fire?
I have today written a complaint on the Council's reporting page.
If you have the same concerns please also report it!
https://eforms.secure.haringey.gov.uk/ufs/ufsmain?formid=REPORTING_...
Tags for Forum Posts: downhills park, drug, excrement, faeces, homelessness, local, owners, park, poo, poop, More…
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Xavier on
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I find it ironic that yourself and other dog owners are texting each other to avoid human excrement. I have rarely been able to take my children and grandchildren to a park that does not have dog s__t on the grass, or a can't even play with ball without a slobbering loose dog grabbing hold of it and coating it with revolting saliva.
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Permalink Reply by byl999 on
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That's a whole different matter than the one we are talking about here. As i say, every dog owner i know is responsible and collects their dogs mess. However, i don't doubt there are IRRESPONSIBLE dog owners who leave it in the park but i am not responsible for them and i will openly tell a dog-owner to pick it up if i see someone neglecting to pick-up.
As i said, the matter in hand in this discussion is about HUMAN poo.
NONE OF US WANT POO (of any sort) IN THE PARK!
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I appreciate what you say, but without building new toilets everywhere, or filling the parks with police to hand out cautions (neither of which would be practical), what would you suggest is the best solution?.
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We don't need toilets built "everywhere", just one loo in the park would be great. It could be one of those european-style self-cleansing machine ones maybe??!
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A free toilet or payment?, either of which would have someone sleeping in it thus defeating the object, the latter would have its cash-box ripped out within a few days. Sorry to pour cold water on your idea but I'm just being practical.
Maybe a long-overdue bitterly cold winter will give respite to the problem.
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Why do adults talk of "human poo"? It's shit, innit?
But I see Xavier has pinned it all on those happy open defecators, the East Europeans. Brexit'll soon fixit.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Stepping out your front door in the morning and putting your foot into a great steaming pile of "shit" is quite a slap in the face. At least in the park it's not personal, well I guess it might be if you're bending down picking up your dog shit when you see it going on.
I don't think, as much as you have tried to hide it, you're being very nice here.
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'..will only add fuel to the fire?'
Faecaes does make very good fuel; it's organic too. Seems to me if more people shat in parks we might be able to close at least one nuclear power station.
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Thank you for posting this. I didn't realise this problem was recognised more widely. I've had to stop letting my dog off the lead in Downhills because of this which is a real shame. As has already been said, any responsible dog owner will clear up their mess, having to deal with human poo is disgusting. I too have heard about dogs who have become very ill after eating it. I tried to get in touch with Friends of Downhills a couple of months ago to suggest planting holly or other prickly plants in the hotspots (near the nursery entrance close to the West Green Rd gate to my knowledge), but I heard nothing back. Does anyone have any connections with that group?
Whatever people's reasons are for doing it, surely we can all agree that there should not be poo (of any type) left in the park. As I've only been a dog owner for 18 months I hadn't realised that this was a relatively new problem.
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Permalink Reply by Finsbury Park Ranger on
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The real elephant in the room to this thread is immigration. There is a large growing population of immigrants that use the parks as a day time and sometimes even night time family home. If the trend keeps up we may see Londons parks becoming economic migrant / refugee camps. The problem is compounded by international travel, European freedom of movement, lack of control of illegal immigration, poverty in the home country, desire to seek benefits / begging and work money here.
It's also compounded by the fact that any attempt to build anything anywhere is met by howls of middle class cries of 'no, this must be stopped'.
It's a problem the right have had an easy answer to but the left perhaps not. I guess the reason why the right won the brexit vote.
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Totally agree FPR, David Cameron tried to negotiate a 'no job, no home, no come' policy and came back with half a deal with strings attached, now we have Brexit.
If you accommodated these people overnight it would still not solve the problem, most are single so they would just meet up in the park anyway, and would not walk the distance home when they needed a crap.
While we still have open doors people will come to earn money, some will succeed and some will fail, we cannot accommodate more and more people, we just do not have the room or the living space, education and health infrastructure to go with it.
People writing letters to LBH will make little or no difference, we all know the problem (as stated) but some will just stay in denial because it contravenes their political beliefs.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Ah, now I see the point of this thread..
It's a bash the foreigners thread. While we still have open doors people... blah, blah, blah.
OK, I'll follow the trend.
I can't wait for the open doors policy to end.. It'll stop all those drunken Brits rolling around Berlin every weekend. Doing their number 1s and 2s in our parks and on public transport. These bloody foreigners..
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