How would handle this cache?

[+Totem Clan]

I found a cache in a dog park today. It was placed in a spot frequented by the park goers. Here is the log a posted on the cache.

 

Should I send the owner an email about the cache? Should I post a 'Needs Maintenance' log? What would you do?

 

I was planning on leaving it as is with just the log, but I want future cachers to be aware of the conditions at the cache.

 

Edit to fix link.

Edited June 10, 2008 by Totem Clan

[Cache Whisperer]

A cache in a dog park with doggie bombs nearby is pretty standard stuff. Did the container at least resemble a fire hydrant?

[+JeremyR]

Definitely post a NM log - if it's unhygienic then the cache isn't in a viable state.

[+ComputerCacheBug]

I would say NM is the least. Would prefer to see that it got moved to higher grounds where dogs aren't lifting their legs up on it.

[+KoosKoos]

I'm not sure I'd do anything more than post the log you did. The owner received the log, so they can see what you observed. If I was the owner, I wouldn't have hid it where that could happen and I'd pull it if that did occur.

 

Technically, the cache doesn't need any maintenance. It's a little gross on the outside (and worth letting other seekers know that), but the log wasn't soggy (hopefully) and the container is there and in ok shape.

[+lrosell]

I found a cache in a dog park today. It was placed in a spot frequented by the park goers. Here is the log a posted on the cache.

 

Should I send the owner an email about the cache? Should I post a 'Needs Maintenance' log? What would you do?

 

I was planning on leaving it as is with just the log, but I want future cachers to be aware of the conditions at the cache.

 

Edit to fix link.

 

I'd say if you need gloves it should be a difficulty 5 cache.... at least....

 

Seriously, this cache is most likely a NM cache.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

While caches hidden in doggie-walk parks are not my favorite thing in life, I see nothing wrong with this cache, so long as the Terrain rating is high enough to reflect any minor hassles encountered in dealing with any doggie poop or pee found near or on the cache container. And, hate to pop anyone's bubble, but the reality is that we are exposed to lots of poop all the time, and, in fact, it is often showered on us as we walk through the woods. For example, I live in the mountain wilderness in the Appalachian mountains here on the East Coast in the state of Maryland, and it is currently late springtime, and that means that hundreds of thousands of gypsy moth caterpillars are hanging out in all the trees, chewing on foliage, and they regularly drop little poops that look like tiny coffee grounds on anything and anyone below them. In fact, despite a recent aerial spraying effort in our forests by MD DNR (using BT) the gypsy moth population this year is so high that I as I sit here with my office window open, I can hear a constant sound in the forest akin to the fall of a modest drizzle of rain, but the drizzle is actually a non-stop fall of caterpillar poops, and every horizontal surface, including our porches and our car, is covered with caterpillar poop! If only I could sell it on Ebay for about ten thousand dollars per ounce as a wonder elixir!

 

And, if you want more examples of poop in your daily life, consider the recent university studies which showed that the handles of over 92% of all grocery store shopping carts, and also the door handles found in most public places, are covered not only with human fecal material, but with human urine and with human blood and saliva as well!

[+flask]

not to mention those immodest flowers, who release their reproductive matter into the air you breathe.

[+Renegade Knight]

I found a cache in a dog park today. It was placed in a spot frequented by the park goers. Here is the log a posted on the cache.

 

Should I send the owner an email about the cache? Should I post a 'Needs Maintenance' log? What would you do?

 

I was planning on leaving it as is with just the log, but I want future cachers to be aware of the conditions at the cache.

 

Edit to fix link.

Your done.

Anyone who reads the logs will read your log. The owner if they are active will see the log.

 

Anyone who doesn't read logs, and any inactive owners won't be helped by the extra log.

[+BlueDeuce]

I found a cache in a dog park today. It was placed in a spot frequented by the park goers. Here is the log a posted on the cache.

 

Should I send the owner an email about the cache? Should I post a 'Needs Maintenance' log? What would you do?

 

I was planning on leaving it as is with just the log, but I want future cachers to be aware of the conditions at the cache.

 

Edit to fix link.

Your done.

Anyone who reads the logs will read your log. The owner if they are active will see the log.

 

Anyone who doesn't read logs, and any inactive owners won't be helped by the extra log.

 

ayep.

[+StarBrand]

Might suggest to future finders that right after a rain storm is best???

[+JeremyR]

Of course we breathe in all sorts of stuff, but dog waste is notoriously unsanitary.

 

While I'd normally be all for the "You don't have to seek it", "You should know it's in a doggy park" type arguments, I think a cache in an area full of dog muck crosses a line. To quote some guideline or another, geocaching is supposed to be family friendly. If I took the kids and found it to be in an area full of dog muck, I'd turn around and DNF/NM it right there.

[+Totem Clan]

In defence of the cache and the hider, the cache is a nice little cache in a nice new dog park. When she/they hid the cache, the park was new and so the problem would not have been obvious.

If the cache could be moved higher it would be a very good hide. It is the appropriate size container for the location and the location is something interesting to many folks.

It's just that as is it's not very appealing to many.

 

As for as what Vinny said, yes you are correct. The idea of excrement does not instantly repulse me either. I have in the course of my former job had to crawl through a pit of human waste. However I don't think most folks want to grab a urine soaked, feces stained cache, or have their children do the same. Whether their perceptions of poop are right or wrong is not the issue here as I see it. The issue is, as a responsible cacher, what, if any, duties (yeah yeah, I know that's punny ) do I have to advise other cachers concerning this cache.

As far as I'm concerned the log was enough, but I wanted to see how others felt in this regard.

[+BlueDeuce]

Of course we breathe in all sorts of stuff, but dog waste is notoriously unsanitary.

 

While I'd normally be all for the "You don't have to seek it", "You should know it's in a doggy park" type arguments, I think a cache in an area full of dog muck crosses a line. To quote some guideline or another, geocaching is supposed to be family friendly. If I took the kids and found it to be in an area full of dog muck, I'd turn around and DNF/NM it right there.

 

eh, poop happens.

[Ferreter5]

I'd say the log notified the owner. But, if you wanted to follow up with a separate friendly e-mail, then that'd be okay too.

 

At least there wasn't poop inside the cache like what happened with one of mine. Now that was an ammo box that I just outright replaced. Yuck.

[+Kit Fox]

Of course we breathe in all sorts of stuff, but dog waste is notoriously unsanitary.

 

While I'd normally be all for the "You don't have to seek it", "You should know it's in a doggy park" type arguments, I think a cache in an area full of dog muck crosses a line. To quote some guideline or another, geocaching is supposed to be family friendly. If I took the kids and found it to be in an area full of dog muck, I'd turn around and DNF/NM it right there.

 

Imagine hunting this cache hidden in a real septic tank. Dog feces isn't nearly as dangerous as human feces. Down and Out @ The Suburban Outhouse!

[+Castle Mischief]

Those dogs are just logging their find. Silly dogs and their lack of thumbs.

 

I think you're done.

[+J-Way]

I'd say the log notified the owner.

That's if the owner read the "Found It" log. I personally read all logs, but some owners don't. I'd log a NM to alert future seekers of a potential problem.

 

And others have said that a little poop isn't a big deal... but they've probably never seen the inside of a popular dog park in an urban area. Dog owners are supposed to pick up the solid stuff, but that doesn't always happen. And eventually EVERYTHING inside the fence gets covered in urine. A better location would be just outside the fence, like with this cache. You still bring the cache seeker to the interesting location (the park), but they don't have to bring rubber gloves to keep clean.

[+climbstuff]

And, if you want more examples of poop in your daily life, consider the recent university studies which showed that the handles of over 92% of all grocery store shopping carts, and also the door handles found in most public places, are covered not only with human fecal material, but with human urine and with human blood and saliva as well!

 

thanks for that...

 

so much for eating grapes while I shop

[+crockett3663]

I'd say a NM notice is in order. I know if it were a cache that I hid, I would want to know so that I could deal with it accordingly, and make the cache as reasonably clean and enjoyable to find as possible. Just because it is covered in dog feces, doesn't mean that it has to be. Dog waste is riddled with boatloads of bacteria, and as responsible cache owners & caretakers, we should all do our level best to make sure the caches are as clean and safe as one can reasonably expect for being placed out in a natural setting.

[+Kiwi Nomad]

The cache owner only has three hidden I think the log you have done will surface.

If on the other hand they had lots of finds they might have their e-mails sorted by type and only read their mn logs.

[+PurpHaze]

Those dogs are just logging their find. Silly dogs and their lack of thumbs.

 

Maybe it's akin to some cachers that use stamps or stickers to LOG their find?

[Dinoprophet]

And, if you want more examples of poop in your daily life, consider the recent university studies which showed that the handles of over 92% of all grocery store shopping carts, and also the door handles found in most public places, are covered not only with human fecal material, but with human urine and with human blood and saliva as well!

 

thanks for that...

 

so much for eating grapes while I shop

Hate to tell you, but the grapes are probably worse....