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DNA vs. Dog Poop

By purepedantry on September 17, 2008.

An Israeli town has come up with an aggressive method to fight uncollected dog poop: DNA IDing the "originator."

An Israeli city is using DNA analysis of dog droppings to reward and punish pet owners.

Under a six-month trial programme 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 faeces to a registered dog and identify its owner.

I am as disgusted with the stray poop as the next guy, but this seems like a bit of overkill. Not only will you have to have all the dogs in the city on file, but you have to test all the stray droppings. They are really relying on people being ashamed of getting a fine so that the actual number of tested samples will be low.

I kind of wonder how much it costs, and how they are paying too. Maybe they bundle the cost into the cost of the dog license...

Also, random thought: what do you think they do when they realize a sample is human?

Hat-tip: Paul

Tags
genetics
Haha, a funny

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