Austrians urged to count dog droppings

VIENNA, Austria - Organizers of a campaign trying to clear Vienna's streets of dog droppings are urging residents to record how many droppings they see in the space of five minutes and report the figure as part of an impromptu census.

A group that wants the droppings cleaned up said it would compile the figures and present them to city officials on Monday as part of its stepped-up effort to pressure the Austrian capital to deal with the problem.

In May, activists collected 157,000 signatures on a petition demanding that the city launch some kind of cleanup program and toughen penalties for dog owners who don't clean up after their pets.

But organizers said they were losing patience.

"At first, they said it would begin in the summer. Then it was the autumn," Petra Jens, a spokeswoman for the cleanup campaign, told Austrian television.

Jens said the information provided by residents would help determine what parts of Vienna are most soiled by dogs and provide an overview of just how many droppings are out there on any given day.