The absence of dog poo in Dublin

On my recent trip to Dublin, Ireland I spent a fair amount of time walking it’s streets, and I made the most peculiar observation; the streets seemed to be free from dog poo.

Now I can think of three possible explanations to this

1. there are no dogs in Dublin
2. there are dogs in Dublin but they don’t poo
3. there are dogs in Dublin and the owners of the dogs are very careful to always pick up the poo their dogs produce

If the first assumption is true, I would like to congratulate the  people of Dublin. I must admit that I’m not particularly interested in, or even fond of, dogs. But if they are to exist, let’s agree the city is not the place for them.

If the second assumption is true, I would like to congratulate the people of Dublin.

If the third assumption is true, I would like to congratulate the people of Dublin. A city where the residents show such respect, consideration and compassion for their fellow inhabitants must be lovely to live in.

Animal Sex

The TV is showing  a documentary on animal sex. Heterosexual sex is explained in terms of procreation (as if they knew…) The frequently occurring homosexual acts seem to be harder to understand. The scientists scratch their heads and invent all kinds of explanations. Like it’s some kind of practice for “the real thing”, or dominance of some sort, or perhaps it’s  a way to get a heterosexual partner excited ( if , that is, it’s two females doing it…)

Maybe it’s because there is no partner of the opposite sex available?  Or maybe the stupid animals are simply mistaken about the sex partner’s gender?

Unfortunately none of the theories seem to work; the lion males don’t look twice when two females are having sex right next to them, and the baboons practice homosexual sex even though there’s plenty of individuals of the opposite sex within reach.

Finally one scientist sticks out his neck and speculates that maybe they don’t have a reason for doing it one way or the other, maybe animals do things just because it feels good. By now the viewer has almost lost their voice by yelling at the screen for the past 45 minutes: Hey! maybe they’re just ENJOYING themselves!

Is the study of animals really so functionalist that it’s controversial to imagine they might  do something out of sheer pleasure?