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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: 2) by ledow on Sunday July 18 2021, @12:34PM
Great, so all I need to do to have you fined is somehow collect any of your dog's poop (e.g. out of a park dog-poop bin), spread it around town, call them in, and you'll have to pay all the costs?
This kind of stuff is nonsense because without catching them in the act, it legally means nothing.
And because of that, the opportunity for misuse is rife.
And because of that, even people who were responsible will just say "Well, anyone could have put that there, you can't prove it was me".
All you've really done is added in the costs of a dog-poop detection agency, plus legal bills galore, to the taxpayer.
It won't solve the problem at all.
Even simple things: What if your dog-walker lets it happen? Do you fine the owner without question? The dog-walker? Let them argue it in court? How would you prove who was walking the dog? And if you don't have to prove who was walking the dog, again, the opportunity for a pissed-off teenager who got sacked from dog-walking to just plant poop all over the town is rife.
It's a stupid idea.
Just put a fine on allowing your dog to do it, and fine anyone caught doing it. Like the rest of the world does.