Although it's true dog poo can carry pathogens and parasites, it's not as
dangerous to humans as would be human poo, and people clean up after
toddlers and the elderly who have mistakes without too much threat of
illness. The greater threat would be to other dogs and even that's not TOO
great a threat or all dogs would be dead, given their habit of eating each
others' crap and licking each others' rumps. Fact is unless you suffer
from persistent bouts of coprophagia you're not apt to be harmed by dog
poo, and the diseases that can pass between canine and human will do so
even just from interacting with a dog as a friendly animal.

And most people just haven't a clue how many nocturnal animals -- racoons,
possums, skunks -- are leaving scat in their yards, not to mention all the
birds. The idea of keeping turds out of the yard would be like trying to
keep dust and wind out of the yard, so just be glad that in the main it's
free fertilizer.

By sheer weight of numbers, dog poo has become a health concern near
rivers, streams, and watersheds. Dog walking in parks with water resources
has been known to so contaminate water, partly because people fail to
clean up after their dog and discard poo safely, public health problems
arise. Leptospirosis inducing diarrhea and salmonella causing severe
painful vomitting can be worth worrying about. I could list fifty or sixty
potentially zoonotic diseases (i.e., passing from pet to human) and at the
end of the list of things not entirely impossible you'd wonder how on
earth people aren't already extinct from the filthy habit of owning pets.

Fact is the role of animal fecal matter in disease distribution from
animal to man is so hugely over inflated as to all but constitute urban
folklore. The RARE incident of zoonotic diseases passed from animal to
people are much more apt to be due to physically touching the animal,
being scratched or bitten by the animal, not from contact with poo, though
certainly anyone squishing turds in their hands, eating turds, and never
practicing ordinary hygene routines, can be at greatly heightened risk of
infection. But in areas where zoonotic diseases have caused public health
problems through feces, the vast majority of these cases have been
associated with birds and fowl, not with dogs.

In areas where there are hookworms, fecal matter dried and scattered
becomes much more worrisome.

I compost my dog's poo. He's a little guy so there's not a lot of it. Is
there any risk factor at all? Maybe. But less risk than having a bird
feeder, attracting hundreds of pooping birds. In the main, wash your hands
after being in the garden and practice normal hygiene generally and it's
just not to worry over.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
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