PETAH TIKVA, Israel (Reuters) - An Israeli city is using DNA analysis of dog droppings to reward and punish pet owners.
Under a six-month trial programm launched this week, the city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is asking dog owners to take their animal to a municipal veterinarian, who then swabs its mouth and collects DNA.
The city will use the DNA database it is building to match feces to a registered dog and identify its owner.
Owners who scoop up their dogs' droppings and place them in specially marked bins on Petah Tikva's streets will be eligible for rewards of pet food coupons and dog toys.
But droppings found underfoot in the street and matched through the DNA database to a registered pet could earn its owner a municipal fine.
"My goal is to get the residents involved, and tell them that together, we can make our environment clean," said Tika Bar-On, the city's chief veterinarian who came up with the idea for the DNA experiment.
Under a six-month trial programm launched this week, the city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is asking dog owners to take their animal to a municipal veterinarian, who then swabs its mouth and collects DNA.
The city will use the DNA database it is building to match feces to a registered dog and identify its owner.
Owners who scoop up their dogs' droppings and place them in specially marked bins on Petah Tikva's streets will be eligible for rewards of pet food coupons and dog toys.
But droppings found underfoot in the street and matched through the DNA database to a registered pet could earn its owner a municipal fine.
"My goal is to get the residents involved, and tell them that together, we can make our environment clean," said Tika Bar-On, the city's chief veterinarian who came up with the idea for the DNA experiment.
Incentives work in the strangest ways. -Mr. McKay
36 comments:
well I'm glad to know that even with all of what's going on in the world today the thought of "which one of my neighbors let their dog crap on my lawn?" is no longer solved by comparing the size of the pile to the size of the dogs on the block but now we can get DNA testing to prove that it was the "Johnsons" dog from two houses down and therefore no longer have to put on a fake smile and wave every morning.
Although this is slightly weird, I think it's a great idea. I see poop lying around in the most random places, and it is so GROSS! However, that would really stink if one of your own dogs that had given DNA to a veterinarian had accidentally gotten out, and left presents for everyone! Now you are left with multiple bills :(. But hey, it might be helpful in finding your dog's location.
I think this is a great idea, but a waste of a lot of moeny to implicate. All of the DNA tests are going to add up. It would be cheaper and easier just to hire a few people to go and clean up the dog poop on a regular basis.
I think this is a useless idea. Yes it's true that there are alot of unwanted "presents" on sidewalks, but it's not that big of a deal. Why waste our's and the governments money to punish people for their dogs business. It't not at all necessary. Plus, I don't want to think that our police are spending time worrying about dog's droppings instead of more important things.
humm this is a really dumb idea. It also is a complet waste of money. Are they really going to take dogs DNA to capture the bad ones? Talk about dumb. I do however undertstand how people dont want to see dogs buisness on the street when taking a walk. have a good day mr. mccay!
I think that this is hilarious! It always has bothered me that people don't pick up after their pets, but perhaps we are going a tad bit too far... It is cost effective?
I think that this is hilarious! It always has bothered me that people don't pick up after their pets, but perhaps we are going a tad bit too far... It is cost effective?
I think it is a waste of time and money trying to get people to comply with this. Even though it may be unpleasant to have it on the streets, it would be easier to just have people go clean it up instead of spending a ton of money on thousands of DNA tests.
This idea sounds good on paper, but isn't so great in practice. Time, money, and effort could be spent better elsewhere rather than fining people for their dogs' actions. Besides, it is much easier and more cost-effective to make prisoners collect dog crap as community service.
this is funny but no one will find the time to go get their dogs DNA swab so it would be a big waste of time !!
im in 5th now not 6th period !
Wow this is a really stupid idea. People really want to waste money on DNA tests instead of fixing other problems first? I don't really think people will care about this whenever something worse comes along.
Would this affect the pet business? I mean with the threat of being fined for poo, would less people take in pets? It's kind of absurd to expect people to pay for their dogs' mistakes. I mean what if one got lose? Would the owners have to pay for it then?
Hmmm i think there are much better things we could be spending out tax dollars on. Maybe people should just pick up the poop, and this really wouldn't be an issue.
This is pretty funny, but very gross. Who's going to actually check the DNA in it though? ---interesting job that person will have. I kind of think this is a waste of time and money!
I think that the idea is okay, I agree people should pick up after their pets. Though it does seem ridiculous to try and fine people for some dog droppings.
This is funny..but kinda stupid. Ya, it may stop the issue with "presents", but it is a waste of money and time. I think they are going a bit too far.
uhh seriously. This is the dumbest thing ever..shouldnt they have better things to do than investigate dogs poop like really?
This plan could make the streets cleaner, but it would be more cost efficent to pay people to go around and clean it up instead.
This is possibly the most pathetic "issue" people are debating over. If you lack any desire to clean up a dogs crap, then don't get a dog. If you think of the idea to retrieve DNA from dogs to punish or reward a dog owner, then you have too much time on your hands.
Whoever thought of this idea should run for president, that way all of our issues would be solved.
Uh pretty strange idea. Don't we have bigger problems than dog poop? I don't see how people would take this seriously.
This is a complete waste of money, couldn't there money go to some better use. This should be the last thing to worry about for people in Israel.
This might just be the biggest waste of money i've ever heard of. There are way bigger worries in Israel than dog crap. How can anyone consider this idea?
Even though the incentives could benefit some of the dog owners, the cost of DNA analysis could eventually hurt the city as a whole in the long run.
This is a really dumb idea. Who is going to take the time to get their dogs swabed for DNA? If you are the kind of person to let your dog poop on the street then you aren't going to go take them to get their DNA swabbed first. The whole idea is stupid and there is much bigger problems they should worry about.
I think that this is a waste of time and money. They should save their money to buy weapons to defend themselves. If they go through with this project, all the fines they would earn will replace the money that they spent on the project, which results in a waste of time.
This is so funny!
for one this is a huge waste of time and money. Shouldn't city officials be worrying about more than whose dog is leaving behind what mess. If you know your dog leaves behind messes without you cleaning them then why would you take time do go get it swabbed when it would be YOU who gets fined?
I don't know if the incentive to submit my dog's DNA would work. I think I'd rather leave the dog poop on the ground knowing it wouldn't be identified than carry it around in public until I found a good spot for it, especially if I had a big dog. If the dog is happy enough without the incentive of a new toy, and the owner is happy leaving the dog poop behind, the choice to leave it behind isn't hard unless guilt just plagues the owner. This idea seems like a huge waste of time, effort, and money.
I think its a waste of money. The amount of responses they will get will be so low that they will discontinue the program.
This idea seems pretty ridiculous to me. I'm pretty sure that I have way more important things to think about rather than to worry about something like this. It just seems over the top sonsidering all the truly awful things going on in our world.
Seriously there is nothing better they can be spending their money on. Stop the presses they need to find the owner of the dog that pooped so they can fine him. thats smart dont spend money on something useful.
I know that they mean well to set up this program and it is nice that something is being done, but its probably a great thing that its only a trial. Im pretty sure that anyone could have came up with an idea like this and also the amount of effort and money could be well spent else where.
I think this is a bad idea, dog poop serves as a fertilizer and they're just wasting alot of money
I think this is crazy because of the wasted time and money needed to do this wasteful operation. They should be trying to solve their conflict with the palistinians instead of testing dog poop. Amazing how retarded people are these days.
I do think it's a good idea, but on the other hand, it is a waste of money and not exactly what we should focus on. I don't know what to choose!
There are more important things that need to be fixed in our environment than punishing pet owners for their dogs feces. This is the most stupid idea i think i've ever heard of and is a complete waste of time and money.
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