Pet owners who walk their dogs regularly or allow them to periodically roam free will soon be picking up any calling cards their animals may make in someone else’s yard.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Nov. 25 passed an ordinance requiring pet owners to clean up after their animals if the pet poops on someone else’s property. Under the city’s charter, the ordinance takes effect in 30 days.

South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said the ordinance is the first in a series of new and amended city ordinances regarding pet owners and their animals.

“The ordinance is just part of what we’re trying to do to update some of the things that haven’t been changed in a while,” Thompson said. “We just want to make sure it’s clearly explained what you can do, and give us something to enforce. We want to make sure enforcement is in place.

“I know there’s bigger things going on in the city, but I see it as a public safety,” he said. “It’s more than a nuisance problem. I want to make sure no child is attacked by an animal that could have been restrained.”

City officials said the ordinance is the result of citywide complaints from residents.

“We’ve gotten complaints about several things: about strays, about people and their animals off leash, destroying the neighbor’s property; a lot of complaints come from neighbors who live in the same street,” Thompson said.

He said a resident at a recent town hall meeting in the South Ward had a problem with his wife trying to walk for exercise with stray dogs running around.

“It’s more of a safety issue, because you never know when a stray animal (may appear) and somebody’s walking,” he said. “I’ve been walking and met with a dog off the leash that could easily be rectified by keeping the animal restrained.”

North Ward Alderman Mike Mayfield added he’s received complaints of people allowing their dogs to run free and going into neighbors’ yards and driveways to do their business, and problems with larger dogs bothering small ones.

“We felt we had to do something to give us some teeth, in case we had to do something; to give the police department and the inspection department some teeth. We had to do something rather than let it lie.”

While strays may be causing most of the problems, he said, there are some people who allow their pets to roam and damage yards. Strays, he said, need to be handled by animal control, which can set out live traps and catch the animals.

If the problem involves a neighbor’s animal, Mayfield said, he’s suggested people go talk to the neighbor about it.

“In most cases, they’ll solve the problem, but sometimes they can’t,” he said. “People always have the right to file a civil complaint, and in most cases, that’s probably what it’s going to come down to, a civil complaint.

“Hopefully we can alleviate the problem.”

Thompson added the city also has some responsibilities, like making sure dogs adopted from the city’s animal shelter have their shots and have the proper registration before they leave the shelter.

“We need to make sure we do that when we released the animals back to the public,” he said.

Thompson said the new and amended animal ordinances could go before the board within a week. “I’ve been working with the city attorney on this and I plan to poll the board and see what they think before I introduce it. I want to make sure we approve something we can enforce.”