Council To Start DNA-Testing Dog Poo To Catch Owners

Dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets will soon find no escape from the law - as British councils use DNA testing to track down offenders.

Barking and Dagenham council is to start testing DNA kits next month - and other councils have expressed interest.

The kits allow officials to match up dog waste to an online database of dogs.

The PooPrints DNA kits are made by BioPets, a genetics company - which claims that there is a one in four million chance of two dogs having the same genetic profile.

Many councils have expressed interest in the technology, which allows local groups to take a DNA ‘print’ of dogs and then use this to track down offenders when dog waste is found in public.

PooPrints says, ‘Animal Waste has been used as a means of DNA collections for many years. It is one of the best methods to study animal populations in field studies as it allows for a low stress, non-invasive means of DNA collections.’