Malaga puts its foot down over dog mess

MALAGA City is preparing to crack down on mess by drawing up a database of the DNA of the 98,000 dogs living in the city to allow their owners to be tracked down and fined if they fail to pick up after their pooches.

As of March, owners will have to take their four-legged friends to the vet for testing and inclusion in the database, at a cost of around €35.

Once the dog has been registered, owners will be provided with cards and collar tags to prove they have met the obligatory measure. As of September, mess found on the streets will be tested and DNA matches used to track down and fine their owners.

Once located, owners will face a fine, which amounts to about €166 but can be up to €500 if the mess is left in public parks or gardens, on pedestrian streets or near schools and health centres, and also be forced to cough up €18 for the DNA test used to track them down.

The measure, which was first put into effect in Xativa, Valencia, will hopefully prove to be an efficient deterrent, the council said. In Xativa the amount of mess on the streets dropped by 80 per cent after it was announced, even before it was actually put into effect.