Talk about raising a stink: An Oceanside animal hospital is using three large bins filled with animal feces set near the edge of its property to try to ward off labor-union members who have been picketing the place for months because the hospital used a nonunion contractor in some of its construction work.

"We put it out there every day to discourage them," said Lisa Hamilton, administrator of Mission Animal and Bird Hospital on Benet Road at Highway 76. She declined to discuss the matter further, saying inquiries were being handled by veterinarian Robert Cartin.

"It smells awful," said Abraham Bustamante of Carpenters Local 1506, pointing out the bins on Friday. Bustamante said the odor is so bad, particularly on warm days, that picketers often wear masks to filter the air they breathe.

"Who knows what's in that poop," Bustamante said. "We're afraid we can get sick from this."

The contractors union began targeting the animal hospital several months ago. For weeks on end, union representatives have stood on the sidewalk outside the hospital holding a huge printed banner that says, "Shame on Mission Animal & Bird Hospital."

The union members also hand out fliers criticizing the hospital for what they say is its part in the "desecration of the American way of life."

Cartin, the veterinarian, could not be reached for comment Friday. However, in a notice posted inside the animal hospital, he said he used union and nonunion workers in building the state-of-the-art facility, as was his right to do.

"Nonunion workers, like union workers, live in our community, work very hard and deserve to make a living so that they can provide for themselves and their families," Cartin said in the notice.

"The point of the protest now is simply for a large business, like the Carpenters Union, to punish a small business ---- us ---- for not giving in to their demands," the statement said. "The construction is completed. There can be no other reason for this union to picket."

The malodorous bins the hospital has lately employed to discourage the picketers are lined up on an embankment outside the hospital, where the union members stand. Two of the bins are filled with dried feces. One has feces in a liquid.

"They leave it there," said James Sims, who was picketing Friday.

Sims also keeps ear plugs in his pocket because he said animal hospital workers recently put speakers out with the bins of feces, blaring loud music as long as the picketers were there.

Bustamante acknowledged the construction work is long completed, but said the union is still picketing because it wants to make a point that businesses should use union workers on their projects.

"They didn't do it the right way," Bustamante said.

Call staff writer Ray Huard at 760-901-4062