Remember that fancy new East River Esplanade that opened last month on the lower lower east side? The one with the fancy new dog run? Well, it turns out that downtown dogs are getting sick from the brand-new run, because the park has turned into one giant toilet.
"There are tons of dogs, and they're all roaming around in each other's pee and poop," said one pet owner whose poodle vomited repeatedly and had diarrhea after a visit to the dog run, under the FDR Drive near Pine St. "People don't clean up the poop, and there's no hose to clean," said another owner, whose puggle also threw up after a romp in the park last week. Owners complain that the patches of small rocks around the run are hard to clean, and a major culprit is a pool that some dogs use as a water bowl and others as a toilet.
It's been a rough time for dogs looking to frolic off-leash these days: earlier this summer, the Washington Square park dog run was submerged in disgusting bathroom runoff (from humans!), and the Hudson River dog run has been turning into a canine cage match arena. A spokeswoman for the Economic Development Corp, which built the Esplanade dog run and is responsible for maintaining it, told DNA Info that they were "open to comments" and encouraged people to call 311.
