Jeremy Bowman, a writer for The Motley Fool, lives in Cape Elizabeth.

Along with lighthouses, lobsters and lakes, it seems like Mainers increasingly want to be known for a more unsightly totem of outdoor life: dog poop bags.

I have lived in many other places, and I’ve never seen this phenomenon before. Sure, you might see an occasional unbagged poop on a city street, but bagging it and leaving it behind is definitely a Maine thing.

I see them almost everywhere I go in our beautiful state, proudly on display as if they’re part of the natural environment. They’re littering hiking trails, strewn about on the side of the road or left on an old stone wall. Recently, I was enjoying a walk down Ferry Beach in Scarborough, and there it was, a large black poop bag alone sitting on a rock, relaxing to the sounds of the waves, I suppose. 

When I would walk my dog in Willard Square, one of my neighbors would leave their poop bag right smack in the middle of the sidewalk as if it had just bought prime real estate in the neighborhood.

I get it. You don’t want to miss the bag on your way back, but I bet your neighbors would rather miss it. If your hands work well enough to scoop the poop and tie it up, I imagine it’s not an undue burden to carry it for the next 10 or 15 minutes.

I assume these bags are left with the intention of retrieving them, but do these people even remember to pick them up? I suspect they often don’t. One of our public works staff here in Cape Elizabeth posted a rant on Facebook about dog owners who drop their poop bags in the grass in Fort Williams Park and forget them. When he runs over them with the lawn mower or weedwhacker, guess what happens next. Sounds like hazard pay to me.

My favorite form of display has to be when I’m on the road and I see a poop dutifully pinned to a car’s rear windshield wiper, like it’s a hunting trophy or something. Is that a six-pointer you got there? I bet you waited all day to bag that one. You’ll have to show me the spot where you got it. 

Maybe they leave them like that so they can spot one another on the road, get together later and talk about all the wonderful places their dogs have pooped.

Of course, you could just throw those bags in your trunk, or, if you insist on keeping them outside of your car, pin it to your front wiper where you can enjoy the sight of it yourself. I’m sure there’s a gas station trash can not too far away if you need it.

It also makes me wonder where this magical place in nature is where you can’t leave or bury your dog poop. I know there are some environmental concerns about leaving dog poop in the woods, but leaving it in a plastic bag and forgetting about it is much worse. 

Mainers’ commitment to protecting and preserving the environment is admirable, and we cherish the beautiful landscapes and public spaces we have. But there’s no special exemption for dog poop bags. That’s your trash, and it needs to be treated that way. You wouldn’t leave an empty bag of Doritos on the beach, nor a soiled diaper. You shouldn’t leave your plastic dog bag either.