Mark Davis

Contrary to signage at Wiggly Park, poop fairies do exist.

Three women with happy puppies became friends while exercising their dogs at Powell’s dog park couldn’t stand the sight of poo piling up. When their dogs made a mess they cleaned it up. But evidently not everyone can find the time to grab a poop bag from the conveniently located dispensers in multiple places around Homesteader Park and across the city. Instead, the poop fairies have literally taken the problem into their own hands.

Two of those friendly dispensers are located just inside the gates at Wiggly Park. You can’t go in or out without passing a dispenser. There’s also a new pooper scooper available at the park. However, day after day the women continue to find surprisingly large amounts of excrement left behind by other dog owners.

So, while their pups tangle and chase, the poop fairies pull plastic grocery sacks from their vehicles and pick up as many mounds they can find. None of the women want to spend their time collecting dog sausages, but they also want the popular facility to be healthy for everyone involved and the bottom of their shoes and their pet’s paws to be fairly clean before jumping in their vehicles and heading home.

It’s not exactly common to make friends this way. Greeting someone with a shake is difficult with a green plastic poop bag on your hand. But somehow these women have grown closer through their unwanted mission. They jokingly designed T-shirts, but are unsure if they’ll unveil them anytime soon. There is a worry folks will leave more poop on the stoop knowing there is such a thing as a poop fairy. So they have decided to remain anonymous, like most true superheroes.

Yes, I said superhero. They may look like your typical people, but they use the superhero strength of oodles and poodles of patience not to take up arms when they see a dog squat while their owners — noses often in their phones — fail to notice.

Their mission isn’t for glory, rather it’s for the benefit of man- and dog-kind. They’re not looking for recognition, yet their goals and resolve are inspiring. They deserve a nod from every single person who has had a less than positive encounter with a pile, big or small.

We could use more superheroes like the poop fairies all over our fair city; one of the sweetest landscapes of any in the country. For example, how many times have you gone fishing and found an empty styrofoam bait container at your favorite haunt? How many hikes reveal the remnants of a previous party of those who counted on the isolation of the woods to not be discovered yet couldn’t find it in their hearts to place their trash in an appropriate receptacle? You can walk by, wishing people would grow up. Or you can simply pick it up, making the next person’s trip more pleasant.

I was recently inspired by a father and daughter team who pulled two big garbage bags of trash from a remote trail, forced to dismount from their horses every time they found refuse. It would have been easy for them to just pass it by, but civic pride prevented them from ignoring the problem. Our shared land is better and our experiences in the forest are more memorable thanks to folks like these.

No matter how much you complain, there is a segment of the population who feel it’s OK to just leave their trash for the next guy. Those with civic pride must press forward by helping to keep our shared spaces clean.

And for those three superheroes willing to bend over to clean up the nastiest of all litter, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.