In 2010, the Miami Sun Sentinel published this story about a condominium association in Baltimore considering the implementation of a new pet policy. Wait ‘til you read this.
BioPet Vet Lab is a Knoxville, TN-based company that makes breed identification kits that take a cheek swab via snail mail and send back to you an analysis of what breeds your dog has in his or her blood.
This is the company that supplied the results I posted about the breeds in my mongrels. Well, in October of 2008, the company announced the introduction of a program called PooPrints™. The program was developed for condo associations or municipalities with a problem with residents not picking up after their dogs, and it offers an accountability solution.
The premise is that DNA samples of all resident pooches would be offered and collected, and sent to the nice folks at BioPet Vet Labs to establish a database. Then poop samples that were left outside can be collected, sampled, and shipped to the lab to be compared to the database to identify the poop offender. How genius is that?
The Sun Sentinel article stated, “For $30, pet owners can send in a swab of their pet’s saliva, the DNA of which would be extracted and kept in a database. If an association wanted to know which owner was not cleaning up after his or her pet, a small sample could be collected and sent to the lab for testing.” BioPet costs are listed as about $30 to register each dog’s DNA in the database, and about $50 for the processing of collected samples.
After the sample is received, it takes about 4 days for the sample to be matched. Then the condo or homeowner’s association will be notified via email and they can recoup the cost of the sample by fining the offending, irresponsible dog owner! The Scarlett Place condos in Baltimore are considering a $500 fine for each offender.
Think about this: paying $50 up front to register; another $50 for each sample to be tested; $10 a month for the poor maintenance staff to pick up, sample, and mail off the poops left on property; $500 fine for each person who ignores the curb your dog signs around town… and in just a few months, people would get the point and fear the fines, and the grass would truly be greener!
I don’t do math, but that sounds like good math to me. I would so totally buy into that idea!
For more information on PooPrints™ or other BioPet Vet Lab products, click here.
Jill Aronson is an SLDogPAC board member who lives in the South Loop with her dog Leo.
© 2010 Jill Aronson. This article originally appeared at Examiner.com.
I believe DNA Testing is The next best thing.
Making Pet Owners Responsible for their Pets is certainly the way to go.
However:
We at ScanMasters have determined that Pet Owners are still feeling some sort of invasion to their pets involuntary action. (Their Privet Poop) (Family Stuff).
Wouldn’t it be nice if you and your pet could just Poop and Go?
Wouldn’t it be nice if your could be assured that this Poop is as good as picked up?
Just having a Pooper Scooper Come once a month/week/day IS NOT GOING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
We At ScanMasters have been testing our solution for 13 Months.
It Simply Works.
If your are interested and would like to finally take the last step, Let us know.
We have taken the latest technology and used it to solve an Age Old Problem.
Sincerely, Richard(ScanMasters)