SThe tolerance period in South Tyrol for those who have not yet registered their dog’s DNA will end at the beginning of 2024. Purpose of profiling: identify and fine owners who do not collect waste. So far, dog DNA has been acquired from 2,800 animals out of approximately 40,000 registered in Alto Adige. But in the meantime the veterinary association has rejected the measure: it complains that it has never been involved in a project considered expensive, legally questionable and difficult to apply.
Mapping dogs’ DNA to identify feces on the street, and fining owners
The aim is to sanction owners who do not collect the needs of their four-legged friends. To trace those responsible for the crime, next year a laboratory analysis of the remains abandoned on the street will be enough.
By contacting the veterinary service of the health authority, the costs of genetic profiling to be paid by the owner amount to 65 euros. If they ignore the legislation, the owners of the approximately 43 thousand dogs registered in the province of Bolzano risk a fine. Obviously, other possible perpetrators, namely tourists, will be excluded from the checks.
Filippo Maturi, leader of the centre-right party, collected 5 thousand signatures against the law from provincial councilor Arnold Schuler, who is available to make corrections but not to cancel the law.
From France to Spain, the pioneer cities of dog DNA
Other cities, in Italy and beyond, are also moving in this direction, in the name of decorum. In France, it did Beziersa city of about 70,000 inhabitants in the south of France, which profiles dogs but only in the centre.
In Spain profiling has already been implemented for some years in around fifty municipalities, mostly small in size and with excellent results. But the battle against dog poop also rages on Rum raisinproudly pioneer in profiling, which began mapping the DNA of animals in 2018. In 2019, a year after the introduction of the rule, there were 22 percent fewer poops on the street compared to 2016, when the rule still did not exist era. But still today the Spanish town He “hammers” the few recalcitrant owners with barrages of text messages. In short, the problem is felt.
Dog poop, a problem also felt in Italy
In Italy the genetic profile of dogs was created through feces introduced in some municipalities, such as Malnate, in the province of Varese. The idea had also been proposed in the municipality of Turin but it had been rejectedand last February a delegation of councilors from the municipality of Genoa met Arnold Schuler, councilor of the autonomous province of Bolzano, to find out about the project with the idea of introducing it to their home too.
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