DOVER — The Woodman Museum and surrounding neighborhood has been dealing with a dog conducting its business on the property and surrounding area. The regular occurrence has started to affect the museum’s visitors, so Executive Director Jonathan Nichols and community members have taken to a neighbor-wide effort to stop it.
The dog mess issue started this fall and has persisted daily. Nichols recently posted in social media via the (un)Official City of Dover, NH Facebook group to kindly ask the community to treat the museum property with respect. While the Facebook post addresses specifically the museum, it has been happening in the surrounding neighborhood, Nichols said, not just at the museum. He would like to create awareness about the community effort.
“Unfortunately, over the past few months, someone has [begun] to allow [a] dog to defecate on the museum grounds daily. We wouldn’t mind if the owner was responsible and picked up after their dog. In fact, we love to have dogs at the museum for some of our outdoor events, like our concerts. However, the owner has decided they are not required to do so as, daily, there are droppings all over the yard of the museum. The museum is not city property, we are privately owned and do not have the resources the city has to stop this,” said Nichols in a Facebook post.
The post was well received by the community and multiple people responded offering up camera equipment to the museum to try and track down the owner and dog. While the museum has not taken anyone up on the offer, said Nichols, they have invested in a few trail cameras and have caught the dog on camera, in addition to a person who appears to be the owner but is not identifiable in the videos.
Nichols has been working with the city’s animal control department and has submitted a photo to the Dover Police Department, which is investigating.
Dover police Capt. Brad Gould said as of Monday, the animal control officer believes the dog’s owner has been identified and that other information has been gathered about the case. Police and the museum official didn’t release images of the dog, citing the investigation.
“It’s ignoring pet waste laws, it’s also a cultural site,” said Nichols, noting the museum has four 18th-century historic buildings on its campus and is on the National Register of Historical Places.
What are the fines for not picking up after your pet?
Cleaning up after one’s pet is enforced under state statute 466:31-a. It is $25 for the first offense, with $100 in any subsequent offenses committed within the first 12 months since the first incident.
“Obviously it’s the owner’s responsibility” to pick up after one’s pet, Gould said. He said he could not provide advice on preventing this problem, stating it’s more about recognizing the responsibility as a dog owner.
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Nichols said he hopes raising awareness will deter the dog owner from allowing the problem to persist.
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