Mijas fights dog-mess with DNA tests

Mijas council intends to use DNA tests to identify dogs whose owners leave their mess on the streets.

Policemen will be collecting samples when they spot pet-owners failing to pick up their mess, which will be sent for DNA analysis, allowing detection of mess left by the same animal in the future.

Each time policemen catch offenders they will fine them up to €750 and make them pay for the DNA test, which costs about €30.

“The idea is to have a database of DNA which police will be able to consult to see if the owner of a particular animal has been caught in the past, identify them and fine them,” Agriculture councillor Jose Antonio Sanchez Peña explained.

The councillor stressed that the new scheme aims to make owners pay for their actions rather than pinpoint the pets, which cannot be held to blame for having irresponsible owners, and is a desperate measure to try and end this problem which provokes many complaints from local residents and has even caused elderly people to suffer falls.