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Tel Aviv will test dog poop DNA to fine owners who don’t clean up:
Tel Aviv has found an innovative way of dealing with dog owners who don’t clean up after their pets in the city streets — testing the excrement’s DNA and sending a fine to the owner by mail.
The city council on Monday approved a motion setting up a DNA database and stating that dog owners will be required to submit their pets’ genetic details to authorities upon receiving or renewing a license, Hebrew-language media reported.
The validity of current dog licenses will expire six months after the new ruling takes effect, and new licenses won’t be approved unless owners give over the DNA details, the reports said.
The regulations won’t apply to guide dogs or to dogs kept by animal protection organizations.
[...] There were 6,766 calls and inquiries made to the city hall hotline over dog poop left in public spaces in 2020, according to the Ynet news site.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 16 2021, @11:20AM (5 children)
I didn't know DNA tests could determine if the poop was left there by the dog/owner or planted by someone who wanted to get someone else in trouble. Technology is amazing!
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Friday July 16 2021, @11:42AM (4 children)
They cannot. And a speed camera or a red light camera cannot determine if you are driving the car. Neither can the parking wench giving an empty car the ticket.
The ticket is for the dog. An offense related to the dog is the responsibility of the dog owner. The dog owner is free to find out who planted the dogshit, and go after that person in court.
the point is, you chose to get the dog, there's shit from the dog on the sidewalk, and it's not the responsibility of the taxpayer to pay for cleaning it - and someone does have to pay for that either way. that's on the person who chose to get the dog, not on the guy with the house cat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 16 2021, @01:06PM (2 children)
I am a guy with a house cat and I'm fine with my tax money being used to keep public areas clean and tidy (infinitely more so than, say, giving it to a billionaire).
Fining people who are /caught/ acting against this goal (littering, not cleaning up after their pets) is also fine.
Just not a big fan of systems and processes that can be weaponised.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 16 2021, @01:26PM
>Just not a big fan of systems and processes that can be weaponised.
You mean like virtually every aspect of the legal system? Social media? Fire?
Anything useful can be weaponized, and laws are weapons by their very nature.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fakefuck39 on Friday July 16 2021, @09:05PM
literally your argument against this is that someone is going to steal your dogshit, and sprinkle it on the street. well, someone can take your garbage with your junk mail, and sprinkle it on the street. they can steal your license plate and put it on the same make and color car, and rob a store at night, then put it back. they can buy the same set of clothes you own and paint on an identifying tatoo while robbing that store.
those are completely separate issues, and completely separate crimes. yes, someone can frame you for a lot of things. in your mind that means don't enforce those crimes at all? Just like you can go to court for the speed camera ticket when your car gets stolen, you can go to court for the dogshit. The one crime has nothing to do with the other.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by epitaxial on Friday July 16 2021, @01:31PM
That is why speed cameras (at least in the USA) are civil fines and not criminal.