Dogs to get passports?
Dog owners in the French city of Béziers will face a new restriction beginning this month: they must carry “dog passports” when walking their dogs in some major areas of the city.
According to The Washington Post, a dog passport is a certificate that proves a dog’s DNA has been registered with the local government.
The mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, decided to implement the policy after noticing that dog feces was destroying the old town centre.
If dog poop is discovered anywhere in the city, the administration will be authorised to test it to ascertain whose dog was responsible for the reckless pooping.
Its owner will subsequently be held responsible for the cleanup.
“I can’t stand it anymore,” Ménard told The Washington Post, adding that individuals not picking up after their dogs is a sign of France’s lack of politeness.
Also read: Australian sailor and his dog survive two months at sea
He stated that if authorities do not enforce the regulations, people will have little incentive to act in the public interest.
Aside from being unattractive and foul-smelling, dog faeces left on streets pose a public health danger because they contain bacteria that can spread to other animals and people, causing sickness in some cases.
There will be a two-month grace period during which dog owners will be informed about the new rules.
A person who leaves their dog’s poop behind will be charged 122 euros ($136) for the city’s cleaning service.
Those who do not obtain a genetic passport for their dog will be fined 38 euros ($43).
Authorities hope that the threat of a fine will help reduce the amount of time and money sanitation workers spend picking up dog faeces in the streets — which they did 25,607 times in 2020, 39,847 times in 2021, and 21,313 times as of Nov. 30, 2022, according to the decree, according to The Washington Post, adding that the city spends 80,000 euros ($89,495) on picking up dog poop every year.
Despite how shocking the remedy appears to be, Ménard is not alone in going to drastic steps to address this specific situation.
Similar steps taken by homeowners organisations in other places, including Tel Aviv, Israel, and Valencia, Spain, are said to have helped minimise the problem.
Some have even attempted to get faeces off city streets by mailing faeces back to dog owners and engaging private detectives to track down offenders and their dogs.
