Kicker: Picking up after pets

NICK EICHER, HOST: The city of Springfield, Missouri has come up with a rather creative way to remind people to do their duty after their dogs do theirs.

Yes, an epidemic of not picking up after your pet!

City employees have begun planting small flags in grassy areas downtown—right next to any pet waste they find.

Each flag is emblazoned with a light-hearted message to remind pet owners to be responsible and clean up after their pets.

City official Carrlie Lam told KOLR tv that Springfield employees every couple of weeks find themselves having to pick up an average of about 25 pounds of pet waste.

LAM: In an average year, that’s costing about $7,500 of public resources that are spent addressing that. So we feel like having a few city staff out here, helping spread the word with these little flags is a great way to address that.

The flags say things like “drop it in the trash, not in the grass,” “keep Springfield fresh, pick up the mess,” and other slogans that at least rhyme, but I’m not going to say them.

The flags are made of paper, and city employees regularly round them up as they’re cleaning up the unheeded and left-behind pet waste.

REICHARD: Keep Springfield smellin’ good!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Jasmine Bailey/Springfield, Missouri Department of Public Information via AP)

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