Dog owners in an Italian province are being flagged by a genetic database and fined up to $540 for failing to pick up after their pets.
Officials in the province that covers Bolzano, north of Milan, are tired of the streets being overrun by messy dog owners not cleaning up after their pets. They plan to use a dog DNA database to find out the owners of any abandoned poop collected by health officials and street cleaners.
“Bolzano receives a few hundred complaints a year from citizens about improper management of public land. More than half are for dogs,” veterinary department director Paolo Zambotto reportedly said. “Law enforcement could only catch three or four of them because they have to go there and set up some kind of stakeout.”
The law required an estimated 45,000 dogs in the area to undergo a DNA test at an animal clinic, but only 5,000 have complied.
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Officials also hope the DNA database could help identify animals hit by vehicles or catch pets involved in attacking people.
The law requiring the testing was passed in 2023 and is expected to go into effect at the end of March.
