New Yorkers raise stink about horse feces

NEW YORK, March 7 (UPI) -- Residents of New York's Lower East Side are complaining about the messes left behind by city police horses.

People say the New York Police Department Mounted Unit has been dispatched to the neighborhood every weekend since January to disperse bar patrons being loud in the streets and the horses leave behind smelly deposits that apparently no one has been assigned to clean up, the New York Post reported Monday.

James Parrales, 33, a bouncer at Mehanata-The Bulgarian Bar, said the horses leave behind "a big buffet" of droppings.

"(The police) are doing their job, trying to help the neighborhood ... . You can't have both," he said.

Residents said the police horses should be subject to the same rules forcing dog owners to clean up after their pets.

"It's the same as dog poop -- it's smelly," said Fabio Jimenez, 36. "I asked the cops, and they said it was biodegradable. It's unfair that people have to pick up after their dogs, but the cops don't have to pick it up."

The Post said the NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.