Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

BOLZANO

Do dogs in Italy’s Bolzano really have to be DNA tested under new laws?

The northern Italian province says it will push ahead with plans to fine dog owners who refuse to pay for DNA profiling in a crackdown on dog poo in the streets.

Published: 23 January 2024 16:53 CET
Do dogs in Italy's Bolzano really have to be DNA tested under new laws?
Dog owners in one northern Italian province have been told to follow a DNA testng requirement by March 2024. Photo by Jenn Simpson on Unsplash

Dog owners in the autonomous province of Bolzano (Alto Adige) are running out of time to comply with a law meaning they must submit their pets for DNA testing ahead of the introduction of a new database designed to catch owners who don’t clean up after their pets.

Once the dog DNA database is up and running, sanitation workers and public health officials will be able to collect samples to be genetically tested and compared to records – and the evidence used to fine culprits 50 to 500 euros.

Owners who refuse DNA profiling for their dog can be fined between 292 and 1,048 euros once the rules come into force from March 2024, Paolo Zambotto, director of Bolzano’s public veterinary department, told Italian media.

The law was approved two years ago, but it has faced resistance from the public and criticism from veterinarians.

As a result, by the initial deadline of December 31st, 2023, only around 5,000 of the area’s estimated 45,000 dogs were registered on the database, councillors said.

READ ALSO: The culture shocks to expect if you own a dog in Italy

The local authority has now pledged to make DNA testing cheaper and more widely available from January after complaints that vets in the area were charging up to 120 euros for the procedure, with six-month waiting lists in some areas.

The tests can instead be carried out by local authority vets for a fee of 65 euros from the end of January to March 2024, councillor Arnold Schuler announced earlier this month. 

“In this way, we are making it even easier for everyone interested in having their pet registered,” Schuler said.

He added that the DNA database would also be used to identify animals killed in road accidents, or those which are abandoned or attack other animals or people.

Franz Hintner, president of the South Tyrolean Veterinarian Order, has however criticised the rules as impractical as well as unfair: “Every year thousands of dogs are brought by tourists to South Tyrol, and for those there would be no obligation.”

Filippo Maturi, president of pet owners association Assopets, launched a petition last year calling for the law to be scrapped.

“It is an unjust law which does not solve the problem and which, above all, has enormous management costs,” he said.

Despite the criticism, Schuler insisted there were no plans to scrap the law, and added that several other Italian regions had “shown particular interest” in adopting the initiative.

The German-speaking, autonomous province of Bolzano, or Alto Adige, borders Austria and forms half of Trentino-Alto Adige (also known as South Tyrol). Autonomous provinces have more power than most other parts of Italy to set their own laws.

Member comments

  1. Yet another totally absurd, expensive and unworkable plan. In a world that has gone bananas, this lot are eating the wrong shrooms.

  2. I live in Monza where the streets a littered with dog poo all over the place, it’s unbelievable. Italians are so particular about appearances, how they dress, and you can’t do that because it doesn’t look good to other people, and yet they are happy to let their dogs dump on the pavement. Dog owners should be ashamed.

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

ANIMALS

Is it legal for circuses in Italy to use animals?

After a lion escaped from a circus near Rome over the weekend and made international headlines, many people were surprised to learn that wild animals are kept for entertainment in Italy.

Published: 13 November 2023 12:28 CET
Is it legal for circuses in Italy to use animals?

Residents of the seaside town of Ladispoli, near Rome, were told to stay indoors for more than five hours on Saturday while police, vets and circus staff tracked down an eight-year-old lion named Kimba that had escaped from a travelling circus.

Kimba was eventually sedated and captured, and his handler, Rony Vassallo, insisted that he posed no threat to the public.

Vassallo said he had been worried about Kimba’s safety, and some residents in the area also said they were more concerned about the animal’s welfare than any potential danger.

Some of The Local’s readers too expressed concern and surprise that it was apparently legal for a circus in a European country to keep such animals caged.

“How can this be legal? I thought Italy was supposed to be a country of animal lovers,” commented one resident from the UK.

Kimba, who was born in captivity, is in fact among nine big cats at the circus, including tigers, while acts also involve elephants, camels, horses and even bison.

Rony Vassallo, lion tamer of Rony Roller’s Circus, performing in 2013. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

The incident focused public attention on the use of animals in circuses, and triggered renewed criticism from animal rights campaigners, who say using wild creatures in entertainment is cruel.

The practice is also viewed as unusual by people from many other countries: Italy is among just a handful of EU member states that has not banned or heavily restricted the use of animals in circuses.

In the UK, a law passed in 2019 bans the the use of wild animals in travelling circuses in England. In the US however, there are campaigns for tighter federal regulation as only six states currently ban the use of exotic or wild animals in travelling animal acts or circuses.

In Italy, a law restricting their use in entertainment has been drafted but was this year delayed to 2024, according to the LAV animal rights campaign group, which estimates that around 2,000 animals are held in circuses across Italy.

The mayor of Ladispoli, Alessandro Grando, said that while he did not support the use of animals he did not have the authority to ban the circus from his town.

Grando on Monday called for a change in the law, saying: “I hope that this episode can stir some consciences, and that we can finally put an end to the exploitation of animals in circuses.”

Vassallo, the handler, however said people who criticise the use of animals in circus acts “don’t know the reality of the facts, how animals are treated in circuses, of the checks that are carried out”.

SHOW COMMENTS