ST. PETERSBURG, FL — After decades of unspoken cultural practice, local officials confirmed Tuesday that the city’s dog parks remain the sole environment in which it is considered completely normal for adults to casually walk around clutching bags of warm feces.

“Anywhere else in society, holding a bag of poop would be considered disgusting, disturbing, or possibly criminal,” said Parks and Recreation spokesperson Julie Renner. “But within the perimeter of a dog park, it instantly transforms into a badge of responsible pet ownership. It’s the only place where you can wave hello to a neighbor with one hand while swinging a sack of fresh excrement in the other, and no one bats an eye.”

Renowned as one of the dog-friendliest cities in the Southeast, St. Pete has built its identity around welcoming four-legged residents, boasting more pet boutiques than pharmacies and a thriving café scene where dogs routinely outnumber humans. Officials say this reputation makes it especially fitting that the city would become a national leader in normalizing public poop-bag etiquette.

Residents say the practice has become so normalized that newcomers sometimes fail to notice just how surreal the situation is. “I’ll be having a conversation with a stranger about the weather, and it won’t hit me until later that they were gesturing the whole time with a clear bag full of steaming dog shit,” said local resident Terry Matthews. “And somehow, that’s just polite behavior here.”

Officials have also admitted some concerns about individuals frequenting the parks without dogs of their own. “We’ve seen a few people show up solo with no leash, no pet, and still  walking around with a bag,” said Renner.

City officials acknowledged that dog parks are where the line between embarrassment and civic duty blurs. "St. Pete has always been about community,” said Renner. “And nothing brings us together quite like acknowledging, then ignoring, the fact that every single person here is holding literal crap.”