Durango sets $25 fine for dog owners who fail to pick up after their pets

Durango dog owners who neglect to pick up their pet’s waste on public and private property should be prepared to pay the price – $25 to be precise.

Durango City Council approved an amendment to the city code concerning “removal of dog defecation from public and private properties,” which establishes a fine schedule for violations.

The city took over animal control services Jan. 1, and animal control officers requested a fine schedule because, although it has been illegal to fail to pick up after one’s dog, no minimum fine was in place, said Mark Morgan, city attorney, at a City Council meeting April 21.

A first violation could result in a $25 fine, and subsequent violations could result in a summons and order to appear in municipal court, according to the amended ordinance.

Durango police, animal control and code enforcement have the authority to write tickets to pet owners, said José Madrigal, city manager.

Morgan noted the ordinance does not apply to cats or kangaroos – a reference to Irwin, a kangaroo owned by Durango residents and a “repeat offender” in the art of escape, last seen on the run in May 2025.

The ordinance requires dog owners to immediately remove their pet’s waste upon defecation “on any school ground, public street, alley, sidewalk, tree bank, park or any other public grounds or any private property within the city,” other than the owner’s own property.

The amendment was adopted seven weeks after a band of elementary school students, fed up with dealing with dog defecation at Fanto Park adjacent to Park Elementary School, raised the issue with City Council.

Park Elementary School Green Team coach Colleen Morgan brought several elementary school students and Green Team members to a City Council meeting March 3 where the students expressed their displeasure.

“When people are at Park Elementary, sometimes they land in dog poop, and they have to go to the bathroom and wash their hands,” a student introduced as Juniper said. “We would like to put up signs at Park Elementary to share that we do not like dog poop at our school, and we would like to put a fine on it.”

Another student said children playing soccer or football or who are outside for their physical education class sometimes step into dog poop, and another student said fines are needed so the students have a clean play area.

“We would like to talk about the dog poop,” the boy said. “We have seen a lot of dog poop at our school, and we would like to change it.”

The matter isn’t as simple as the city being stricter about enforcing dog waste pickup, however.

Fanto Park is Durango School District property, and the city cannot issue citations without the school district’s permission, Madrigal said.

“Can we cite somebody on a schoolground property? Would the school district have any reason to be upset about that?” Madrigal said. “If it’s going to be police, the school district would need to consent in some way.”

Madrigal told The Durango Herald the city has since produced a video campaign to help the students out, and in passing the fine schedule, the city can now cite dog owners who don’t pick up after their pets on school grounds.

The 45-second video features children and officers reciting witty phrases advocating for people to pick up after their pets.

“Nobody wants to play hopscotch and ‘hazard detection’ at the same time,” one student says.

City Council approved another pet-related ordinance that gives code enforcement and animal control discretion over when to impound animals.

“We saw that the code gave no discretion on the impoundment of animals for offenses as simple as being off leash,” Morgan said. “We amended that to make impoundment discretionary on most offenses and only mandatory on the most extreme offenses.”

Such offenses are more serious than failure to clean up dog defecation. The ordinance lists the following:

Animals owned or “harbored” in violation of the ordinance could be taken into custody by animal control or police, and the owner “shall be” liable for any associated expenses, according to the ordinance.

cburney@durnagoherald.com