Spanish town uses dog poo DNA to track errant owners

Mislata, near Valencia, has ordered its residents to register their dog’s DNA through mandatory blood samples by December 31st.

The DNA of all dogs will be kept on a council database that can be matched to samples of abandoned dog excrement collected by street cleaners.

“To avoid unpleasant faeces that some owners forget on the street, the city has launched a DNA analysis system that identifies droppings,” states a notice on the council website.

“Street cleaning staff will be responsible for collecting the sample [which], guarded by the local police, will be analysed in a laboratory.”

Guilty owners will then be traced and fined €200.

Mislata is just the latest to adopt a scheme that has found success in other cities in Spain, including Tarragona in the northeastern region of Catalonia and Hernani in the Basque Country.

Municipalities across Spain have initiated schemes to try and clean up the streets-

Colmenar Viejo, a town north of Madrid hired a private detective to track down culprits while nearby Brunete pioneered a scheme that saw excrement left in the streets mailed back to the dog owner’s home.

Earlier this year Madrid city officials announced a plan for those caught failing to scoop the poop being made to work as street cleaners as a substitute for paying fines of up to €1500.

And in May this year, a giant inflatable turd was placed in front of the town hall in Torrelodones outside Madrid in protest of increasing amount of abandoned canine faecal matter.

The sculpture was promptly stolen.