Ill. town's signs tell hikers: 'Stop pooping on bike path'

HAMPTON, Ill., March 27 (UPI) -- Officials in an Illinois town said new signs reading, "Stop pooping on bike path," are aimed at pooping people rather than defecating dogs.

Scot McKay, Public Works supervisor for the Village of Hampton, said residents might confuse the two signs, which bear an emoji-like image of a smiling pile of feces, for a message to pet owners, but they are actually a response to human droppings being found on the path multiple times during the past two years.

Stop pooping on bike path. pic.twitter.com/vs0mHx5uqw

— Mark Rushton (@AmbientRushton) March 24, 2015

"It's just pretty nasty to talk about," McKay told WQAD-TV.

McKay said the feces are definitely human, as the poop-itrator tends to leave pieces of toilet paper atop the piles.

"Well animals don't carry toilet paper and then stuff it on the top," he said.

McKay said he is hoping the signs will inspire potential poopers to take their business to nearby public restrooms.

"It's gross and other people shouldn't have to use our path like that," he said.

Hampton isn't the only Midwestern city struggling with a poop problem -- police in Dayton, Ohio, recently released a picture of a man believed to be responsible for dropping deuces on at least 19 parked cars in the city.