The German city of Weilerwist wants to deal with the problem of dog excrement in the streets, gardens and parks with the help of DNA tests, Deutsche Presse-Agentur – DPA reported from Aahen.
The mayor of the city, Anna-Katharina Horst, has asked the association of mayors of the towns in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the city is located, to tell her whether there is a legal basis to take samples of dog DNA material. In this way, offending dogs can be identified and mainly which dog owners are irresponsible and do not clean up after them when they are taken out for a walk.
The city has 17,500 residents and 1,586 dogs. Streets, playgrounds, green spaces and even the cemetery have been turned into makeshift dog toilets, authorities complain.
The politician reports that the employees of the public works department also suffer from the misuse of green spaces as dog toilets, as reports Daily Sabah. A medical mask is not enough to protect from the excrement: a visor is also needed. The reactions to her initiative are mixed, reports Horst, who herself grew up with dogs. “What comes to me is mostly supportive.” She wants dog excrement removed from public spaces, she says. Her motive, she says, is not to fill the municipality’s coffers. “I’m going for a deterrent effect.”
Photo by Jozef Fehér:
