Identifying irresponsible dog owners by DNA testing dog droppings

Every fall, we had to confront it. People would let their dogs run around on the field in the morning and by the time soccer practice started, the field would be full of deadly doo.

i-a95895440768dd778c90dd5ee356b5b2-koko_face.jpgThere's nothing that hurts soccer practice more than a soccer ball or shoes that went through a pile of dog poo.

That's why I'm so exciting to see this new application for DNA testing. That's right. Kids will be able to play soccer without worry and dog owners will be held responsible for cleaning up after their pets.

The forward thinking city that's going to implement this plan is Petah Tikva, in Isreal. They are going to make a DNA database containing information from every dog in town.

When those dogs defile the wrong bit of ground, someone can bring the sample to the vet, and the vet will compare DNA sequences in the poop with the sequences from the dog.

This really attests to the cost of DNA sequencing or SNP detection dropping and it's a really creative use of the technology.

from Reuters.

More like this

To a dog, a balloon is a rock that floats. To a dog, a lever is a perch for stoats. To a dog, particle decay1 is not about nooks To a dog, gravity is just another way to puke. To a dog, a quantum is a kibble To a dog, a quark is to nibble.
When I first got Arnie-man, first thing I did was watch all of the Dog Whisperer DVDs available at that time. Dude has a whole pack of pit bulls, I wanted his advice on how to raise a proper Arnie-man.
Whenever the big dog over the back fence barks, our little dog goes racing to the back door, barking like crazy. Forget the fact that if the two dogs actually came muzzle to muzzle, the other dog would eat ours with one mouthful.
I am horribly envious. I am speaking of the Village Dog Project, some current research going on that looks very cool.

And as punishment for your irresponsibility The Ministry of Fecal Management will activate your "Pain Collar".

Seriously, if I lived in Israel I would defecate widely under cover of darkness just to know some hyper-citizen carried my feces to a vet for analysis.