Property Managers Use DNA To Sniff Out Dog Poop Offenders

Nerval's Lobster writes "News changes during holidays. It gets thinner and lighter and weirder as the hordes of writers and editors who produce the overwhelming flood of news, updates and infotainments go home to annoy friends and family rather than readers and advertisers. Top points in ridiculousness, however, go to the condo- and apartment-complex managers in Braintree, MA, who were inspired to become amateur zoo-geneticists by resident pet owners who not only refused to clean up after their pets, but challenged the apartment managers to prove it was their pets contributing the increasingly hazardous, unpleasant piles of doggie doo on apartment properties. Rather than put up with a neverending supply of potential EcoBot fuel on marring the landscaping, facilities managers took cheek swabs of all the dogs on the property and sent them to A Knoxville, Tenn. that provided DNA profiles under a program with the dignified name 'PooPrints.' Now, for a fee of only $60 per pooch, residential managers can confirm the provider of a pile of PooPrintable material by comparing the DNA in the dog with the DNA in the pile. 'Now you don't really have to worry about dog poop,' said one fan of the practical application of zoological genetic analysis. 'The grass is now ours again, we don't have to worry about it [poop], and that's a good thing.' Restraint is just as important as innovation, of course, so the building managers made a point of telling the AP reporter who wrote the story that they wouldn't extend the effort to identifying which pooch peed on which bush and when. 'That's a little more difficult. We are not going to tackle that.' Finally, in this holiday season, something to be thankful for." The city of Petah Tikva, Israel started a similar identification program in 2008.

Re:Nothing else to do but whine? Try planning ahea

[SJHillman]

Dog crap is pretty crappy as fertilizers go (depending on their diet). More often than not, it will harm the grass more than help it.

See http://voices.yahoo.com/common-misconceptions-dog-feces-fertilizing-1285581.html?cat=32 [yahoo.com]

Poop free, at least our sidewalk

[pivo]

I agree it's ridiculous to have to resort to doggy DNA but it's the only thing that finally forced dog owners in my building in Boston to stop letting their pets poop right in front of the building's door. Nobody wants to navigate a minefield of dog poop to get in or out of their home and it's incredibly frustrating and irritating that your fellow residents don't care enough to clean up after their dog.

What's really ridiculous is that Doggy DNA is necessary.

Re:This is just a manifestation of passive-aggress

[Anonymous Coward]

FTA:
"Dog owners paid a one-time fee of $59.95 for the initial DNA testing for the database. Subsequent lab tests of dog droppings that end up identifying the offending animal result in a $50 testing fee plus a $100 fine."

Re:inconsiderate...

[Anonymous Coward]

Geez, are people really that uptight about a little dog crap on their yards????

As a dog owner, you may perceive it as "a little dog crap." As a homeowner, I perceive it as "2-3 piles every day," which, if not picked up, will result in dead spots.

Manure may be good fertilizer, if it's allowed to ferment and break up, but a pile of shit is toxic. Likewise, water may be good for your lawn, but acidic, salty urine is toxic.

Re:This is why

[LoRdTAW]

If your cat is shitting on your bed and in your shoes then youre doing it wrong.

Re:City of Vienna, anyone ?

[mcelrath]

Brilliant. Every time I've been forced to not pick up poop, it was because I didn't have a bag, not because I wanted to (and where possible I always go back and get it later). I've had my dog shit three times on one walk. I'm really tired of hearing "solutions" to problems created by psychopaths. This "solution" using poop and DNA utterly lacks empathy towards dog owners, and that's what psychopaths do. There are better ways.

Re:This is why

[femtobyte]

There are reasons --- besides mushy sentimentality --- that people in rural/agricultural communities to this day keep around both cats and dogs. House cats, barn cats, hunting dogs, herding dogs --- these aren't simply pets, but working members of the community. And cats that grow up around dogs can stand their own ground pretty well; there's nothing like watching the baffled terror of an unsuspecting dog who tries picking on a cat which isn't a pussy.