DNA testing identifies dog-doo offenders
BRAINTREE, Mass. — Apartment and condo managers, dogged by complaints from those who’ve experienced the squishy and smelly sensation of stepping onto a pile of dog doo, are turning to DNA testing to identify the culprits who don’t clean up after their pets.
It’s the latest twist in the long-running struggle to keep canine waste off lawns, hallways, elevators and other common areas of animalfriendly community buildings.
DNA monitoring has yielded immediate and dramatic results in the condominium community of Devon Wood, where maintenance staff previously reported seeing, stepping onto or driving over several piles of droppings each week on its 350-acre property.
“We initially didn’t — for the better part of a month — didn’t find any waste, which just floored us,” said Barbara Kansky, who manages the 398unit condo development that introduced DNA monitoring in July.
Polite reminders, letters and notices previously failed to persuade errant pet owners to observe condo rules requiring them to clean up after their animals, Kansky said. There were problems even after residents reported seeing others failing to pick up their dog’s messes.
“We would call or send a letter, and that dog owner would say: ‘Prove it,’ ” Kansky said.
So she searched online and found Knoxville, Tenn.-based BioPet Vet Lab, which specializes in testing DNA from dog poop to identify offending animals. BioPet has beefed up its staff with more scientists to meet demand has started distributing throughout the U.S. and into Canada, Israel and Singapore in the past two years.
The service, branded PooPrints, is very simple, said Eric Mayer, director of business development.
The first step is to register the DNAof all dogs in the community by collecting samples of their cheek cells. The second is to collect a sample of feces and send it to the lab for matching.
Dog owners paid a one-time fee of $59.95 for the initial DNA testing for the database. Subsequent lab tests of dog droppings that end up identifying the offending animal result in a $50 testing fee plus a $100 fine.
So far, one resident dog owner has been identified as an offender.