Dog DNA database to target fouling

Published on Saturday 31 January 2009 18:49

A GERMAN town is taking drastic measures to target errant dog owners.

The Bavarian community of Volkach is to DNA test every dog so it can fine owners when their pets foul public spaces.

Mayor Peter Kornell said the scheme would involve taking either fur or saliva from each of the town's 420 registered canines.

He said: "Unfortunately, we have to do it voluntarily because there is nothing in the constitution about a dog DNA databank being enforceable. But we are proceeding and hope to log every pooch.

"Any person who has trodden in their muck because their owners were too lazy or indifferent to clean up after them will know how distasteful and infuriating it is. So we aim to end it."

The town council will meet to approve the hi-tech dog-watch plan this month and the mayor is confident it will pass the law, although he admits the 78,000 cost might prove "tricky" in the current climate.

The plan also calls for a dog warden to collect canine ordure and match it with the databank – or put out an alert for a stray that must be stopped.

Residents in districts of Berlin where the footpaths have been compared to open dog sewers have demanded DNA testing for years. But with the city facing a financial deficit to the tune of billions, it will need a small town like Volkach to pioneer it.

It is against the law for dogs to foul footpaths and play areas, nursery grounds, railway and bus stations, and there is the ability to impose fines.

Yet dog-fouling and smoking in pubs, where new laws stipulate a total ban, are two rare examples where Germans are happy to break the rules every day.

However, even as towns across Germany await the outcome of the Volkach experiment, there are warnings from DNA experts that the chromosomes of a dog may prove a problem in identifying whodunnit on the high street.

Professor Christoph Meissner, at the University of Wuerzburg, said: "It is possible that dogs of the same race could have the same DNA profile. And from that it could be that the wrong dog will be held accountable for the 'crime' of fouling the footpath."