Fewer things are worse than stepping in dog poop.
Not only is it gross, but the sense of outrage that washes over you can linger longer than the mess.
Some of the fiercest battle lines in civic dialogue are being drawn around the matter of dog poop. Words, and more unpleasant items, are being flung between neighbors, homeowners association boards, apartment community residents and managers, community leaders, environmentalists, park advocates, and others.
BioPet Vet Lab, an animal DNA testing laboratory located in Knoxville, TN, hopes to do something to help
"The problem of pet owners not picking up after their pets is tearing apart
communities," says BioPet Vet Lab CEO Tom Boyd. "It's no wonder that Consumer
Reports lists 'dog poop' as one of the nation's top ten personal gripes. We
used our research in animal DNA identification systems to help provide
community leaders with a tool to bring peace back to the neighborhood."
And what is that tool? BioPet Vet Lab's "PooPrints" program.
The program seems simple enough. Owners register their dog's DNA with BioPet Vet Lab. Once the DNA is on file, any dropping found in the public areas of the neighborhood can be sent to BioPet Vet Lab to be analyzed and matched up with the DNA already on file.
Once the dog is identified, an email report is sent to the homeowners association (HOA), which then can identify the offending owner. With positive proof through the DNA match up, the association may elect to impose fines on the offenders, which will defray the cost of the program to the HOA.
BioPet Vet Lab hopes to open the doors to a conversation about a serious problem in communities across the globe.
Dog waste is more than an aesthetic issue. In the United States alone, the nation's 73 million dogs generate approximately 6.3 billion pounds of waste annually. Approximately 40%, or 2.5 billion pounds, is never picked up by owners.
Indeed, dog feces is a bacterial breeding ground of diseases. Toxocara canis, a roundworm found in dog waste, is especially dangerous to children and can cause blindness.
Meanwhile, researchers are tracking how unclaimed dog waste
is eventually being washed from green spaces to storm drains, arriving
untreated at the closest waterway. In the past decade, E. coli bacteria from dog
droppings have been identified as significant sources of pollution in rivers,
parks, and regional watersheds.
In light of this, apartment community management, homeowners associations, and
other communities struggle with providing a welcoming environment to pet owners
and maintaining vigilance against the few irresponsible owners who turn shared
community space into a biohazard site, endangering the health and safety of
their neighbors.
Debbie Logan, a property manager at Twin Ponds Development in Nashua, New
Hampshire, has been on the front lines of the dog poop debates.
"Even though we provide pet stations and dog playgrounds," said Logan, "we
quickly learned that a small percentage of our residents were not cleaning up
after their pets. As an extremely popular community with pet lovers, a small
percentage of violators could quickly ruin it for the responsible residents.
After much research we found the ideal solution with BioPet's 'PooPrints'
program."
Communities such as Twin Ponds are requiring pet owners to register their pets
in the "PooPrints" DNA database.
And Twin Ponds is already seeing success with the program. Within the first
four samples tested, two violators were quickly identified.
According to Logan, "The program is just fantastic for us. It was easy to
implement and everybody wins. We are spending less time looking for violators
and residents have a clean, healthy community."
Is this something that will catch on? "PooPrints", with its good intentions, is not necessarily cheap. To register each dog's DNA is $29.95 and follow-on processing of samples is $49.95 each.
But maybe it's worth it - think of all the shoes we'll save.
