Hi-tech tactics could help nab ‘dog doo’ offenders

Staff

The Town of Fort Frances has been asked to enter an agreement with Canine Associated Security Systems, a Toronto-based animal CSI group.
“Friends of the Parkway,” a newly-established local group dedicated to keeping the La Verendrye Parkway area free of doggie doo and urine, have been in contact with the company, which says it is willing to set up shop here as early as May 1.
A “Friends” spokesperson said the movement is in response to unacceptably high levels of doggie poop on the parkway.
The process is handled in much the same way as a crime scene investigation, beginning with a thorough sampling of all the piles along the riverfront.
The scoop team will pick up, separate, and carefully place each dropping in sterilized containers, tagging the exact location and time of retrieval.
All samples then will be forwarded to a temporary lab set up in town, where the DNA testing will be done and stored in a data base.
From that point, a complete list of dog owners in the Fort Frances area will be compiled, and these individuals will be summoned to bring their dogs to the temporary lab to provide a stool sample.
This sample will be broken down, charted, and the DNA compared to all gathered and tested poop along the waterfront.
If matches are made, pet owners found to have dogs who have violated the local doggie doo ordinance will be collared for a fine of up to $1,000, and also be subject to the DNA testing recovery fee (estimated to be around $475 per dog).
The fines are being levied under the new Dereliction of Defecation Act, authored by Toronto area MPP Mayi Dumpman.
Dumpman said she was disgusted at the volumes of dogpiles in the area around Queen’s Park, and wanted to wipe the previous ineffective legislation from the books.
The new act had input from Johnson & Johnson, which has developed a dog diaper currently being tested-marketed in the metro Toronto area.
The diaper is available in black, brown, and white so as to blend aesthetically with your dog’s natural colouring, and has a three-load capacity designed for walks of up to one-and-a-half hours.
It’s unclear whether local retailers will stock the new “Dogiapers” brand, but Dumpman said some communities may work a 12-pack into the cost of licensing dogs.
This could result in a fee increase of about $50 per license, to be passed on to the licensee starting in 2012.
No decision has been made by the town, but the general consensus is any uploading opportunities in this day and age are worth pursuing.