An Edinburgh councillor is asking for a “canine DNA database” to be set as much as deal with the scourge of dog fouling throughout the Capital.
The scheme may see canine homeowners having to register their canines with town council, which may take a look at samples of poo discovered left on the street and difficulty fines accordingly. Earlier this week, Edinburgh was named because the worst place in the UK for canine fouling.
Christopher Cowdy, Conservative councillor for Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart, stated the whole lot the council has completed to date to deal with the problem “hasn’t seemed to work”. He will desk a movement on the Transport and Environment Committee on Thursday, November 16, calling for a report on “the practicalities of establishing a Dog DNA register for the city, how it could be enforced, likely costs to set up and run, and how much might be funded through issuance of fines”.
He admitted it “might take a couple of years” to stand up and working however stated Edinburgh might be the “vanguard for combating the national problem”.
In the three years to December 2022 there have been on common 1,288 road cleaning requests referring to canine fouling annually within the metropolis. And though the council already has the powers to difficulty mounted penalty notices of £80 to offenders, solely 4 had been issued by authority in 2021 which Cllr Cowdy stated mirrored “the difficulties prosecuting under the current regime”.
He stated: “I suppose I thought about a dog DNA test as being the only real way you can make out for definite whose dog did what. The general idea I’m thinking of is there would be an Edinburgh by-law that would require dog owners to register their dogs with the city council who would hold a database.
“You would be obliged to bring your dog, a DNA swab would be picked up from the dog and recorded on the database, and then if there could be a team of wardens searching for dog foul they would pick it up, take a test from it and hopefully track it down.”
Cllr Cowdy stated officers confirmed to him the thought was “practically feasible”. He stated: “There are obviously issues that most responsible dog owners pick up after their dog anyway and irresponsible dog owners might not be inclined to register their dog in the first place.” But he added it was a “big problem” that needed to be addressed.
