The long arm of the law grabs handfuls of …
We’ve reported on this before, but, given our previous post, and seeing as it has made the New York Times, it bears repeating: A city near Tel Aviv is logging information about the DNA of local dogs — by collecting their poop.
The idea is that, in the future, they will be able to analyze unscooped poop, track down the owners and hit them with a fine.
It all got started when the mayor of Petah Tikva called veterinarian Tika Bar-On, the city’s director of veterinary services, and asked if it was possible to use DNA fingerprinting to identify which dogs pooped on his city streets without picking up after them.
As a result, Bar-On introduced the first-ever CSI: Dog poop unit.
Bar-On recruited 12-year-olds from a local grade school to go door to door, persuading dog owners to donate samples, to get the registry started. She’s also managed to get saliva samples from dogs at festivals. And she’s arranging to have her poop squad analyze properly disposed of poop, so that responsible pet owners can get rewards — another incentive for them to register.
To date, the Israeli dog DNA bank contains more than 100 samples. According to Bar-On, about 90 percent of owners agree to donate samples when asked.
The other 10 percent, apparently, are saying no shit. Or spit.
Posted by jwoestendiek December 15th, 2008 under Muttsblog.
Tags: collection, dna, dna testing, dog, droppings, fecal matter, fingerprinting, israel, litter, petah tikva, poop, registry, scoop, shit, veterinary
