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More Cities Use DNA To Catch Dog Owners Who Don't Pick Up Waste
dkatana writes: For many cities one of the biggest cleaning expenses is dealing with dog poop. While it is impossible to ask the birds to refrain from splattering the city, dogs have owners and those owners are responsible for disposing of their companion's waste. The few who shirk their duty create serious problems for the rest. Poop is not just a smelly inconvenience. It's unsanitary, extra work for cleaning crews, and in the words of one Spanish mayor, on a par with vandalism. Cities have tried everything from awareness campaigns with motorized poo videos, to publishing offenders names to mailing the waste back to the dog owner. In one case, after a 147 deliveries, dog waste incidents in the town dropped 70 percent. Those campaigns have had limited effect and after an initial decline in incidents, people go back to their old ways. Which has left many cities resorting to science and DNA identification of waste. Several European cities, including Naples and one borough in London, are building DNA registries of pets. Offending waste will then be tested and the cost of the analysis charged to the dog owner, along with a fine.
Employ individuals to clean up the waste and pay for it by requiring yearly dog tag renewal which includes the "poo pickup" tax. Owners don't need to worry anymore, it creates jobs, and it's paid for by the people who create the problem.
It's training people not to let their dogs shit everywhere. After a while, everyone will know that if you let your dog shit on the street, it's going to come right back to you with a fine attached. So why even let it happen? Believe it or not, there are people out there (solipsists) who are convinced the laws don't apply to them. They don't just scoff at laws, they take great joy in breaking them. These little "quality of life" laws sound like piddly shit but they do make a difference in a crowded city. Don't do it and you end up like San Francisco, which has a huge problem with shit lying in the streets. It stinks to high heaven and you can smell it from a mile away.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I say when they are caught, we rub the OWNER'S face in it. Sure, it won't solve the problem, but, my god, it would be satisfying to see.
There's still going to be homeless people with dogs in SF, so you've still got to clean it up. The DNA fines may make the job more manageable though.
Also, what about people who own horses? I see horse manure on the streets not infrequently, and it's a lot worse than dog.
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The vast majority of cats bury their waste in unseen areas. The vast majority of dogs shit right on the fucking pathway.
In either case the noses that should be rubbed into it is the owner's.
Shit happens, deal with it.
Cause if you don't, we'll use DNA analysis to find and fine you.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Amen. Here besides people letting them shit on grass, they do not pick it up. Every fucking patch of green is like a minefield. It is not only gross, it also spreads parasites.
I have a long grass verge by the side of the road and several dog owners have taken to dumping their dog poo bags on it, which is bewildering. Why make the effort to collect the dog poo in a small black plastic bag, only to illegally litter it right afterwards? It's an on-the-spot 80 pounds = $120 fine where I live, but unless I install CCTV and review the footage (and even then identifying them might be impossible), they're never going to get caught by the local council.
Some scoundrel even *saved* 10 of their poo bags and then dumped them at various intervals along my verge. And, no, I'm not enemies with anyone local before anyone asks...
Sure they do, like in playground sandboxes where small children can be infected by toxoplasmosis. People in big cities who let their cats outside deserve to be taxed too.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
You sir or ma'am have not been around horse shit. Just an FYI, cattle crap stinks too.
Foreign animal in your yard? Don't you have the right to "restrain" said animal, and call the local authority to retrieve it?
When your neighbours have to start paying $X every time they let their animals stray, they'll soon do something about it.
I had to restrain a neighbour's dog once for hassling my free-range hens. I didn't mistreat it, merely grabbed it by the collar, walked it to the neighbour's place, and advised the neighbour of my rights regarding animals on my property - said rights including shooting her dog if it was hassling, attacking, or even playfully chasing my chickens. She wasn't aware of the rules concerning domestic and farm animals in rural areas, and, to her credit, apologised and promised to never let it happen again. And it didn't.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
I find people who leave the poo happens more when there is no garbage cans nearby. People are lazy and don't want to be carrying it. Here there is one stretch where you don't see a garbage for over a mile along a major road. Needless to say you will see at least 3 or 4 landmines along the way.
Horse shit smells for a few hours, then it becomes a relatively benign damp wad of grass which is useful as compost. Dog shit smells for days, and it's omnivore poop, which is hazardous. You can catch horse shit as it falls out of a horse, then direct-apply it to your garden, and not only will it be good for your plants, but you are staggeringly unlikely to suffer any ill effects if you simply wash your hands. The parasites which dogs have are far more likely to infect you and also far more dangerous to you than those carried by horses. Anyone who thinks that horse shit is as bad as dog shit is severely unfamiliar with one or both.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Can we extend this technology to people who spit gum on the sidewalk or toss their cigarette butts on the ground?
The only time i'm ever tempted by the idea of mass surveillance is when i think of the possibility of wreaking a little legal vengeance on all those people who fuck up public spaces for the rest of us because they're too lazy or sociopathic to bother handling their waste properly.
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Increased health insurance premiums also cause problems for others, especially if a nationwide health care law forbids insurers to deny coverage for preexisting emphysema or preexisting nicotine dependence, and especially if the law includes a subsidy for people with an income in or near poverty to buy insurance.
Owning a pet is a privilege not a right, one that you are free to exercise as long as you don't harm/impact your fellow citizens. And we don't like stepping in nor picking up your poop.
1. Increase the pet license fee to help defray the cost of "waste removal" from public property. Yes this puts more burden on the respectable pet owners, but they can help themselves by self-policing the bad pet owners in their community. Stop being polite and ignoring bad behavior when you see it - chew the offenders out.
2. Also use part of the increased fee revenue to add more animal control officers or police. Give them the authority and responsibility to catch more offenders and issue civil infractions with substantial penalties.. $200 USD first occurrence, 4-5x that for the second occurrence. Unpaid bills automatically promote the offender to strike 3..
3. Just like baseball, you get 3 strikes. On third offense, revoke the pet license and take their pet away.. permanently. Furthermore, put a ban on issuing the individuals or their immediate family members another pet license for 5 years or more. Its not the animal's fault surely, but some folks will never change behavior without threat of severe consequences.