Urban dog ownership demands a balance of love and duty, and not everyone is dutiful about cleaning up after the morning walk.
Cities have tried everything from the postal service (a Spanish mayor mailed the stuff back to dog owners) to shaming (some cities have publicised the names of offending owners) to bribery (some parks in Mexico City offered free Wi-Fi in exchange for bags of waste).
The city of Naples is implementing a plan to take DNA tests from dog poop to catch people who don’t pick up after their pets, according to The New York Times. If it turns out to be your dog’s turd on the sidewalk, you’ll be fined 500 euros.
Here’s how it works: First, dogs must be registered and have cheek swabs taken. This is how officials collect their DNA. When a small sample of poop is found, it gets sent to a lab to be analysed. If it belongs to your dog, get ready to pay up.
In Barga there is a new movement afoot to resolve this problem and it is using a slightly more creative method to get their point across.