ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - No one wants to be stuck with dog poo on their shoe, or smelling hours-old excrement that an irresponsible pet owner failed to pick up. That's why an apartment complex in downtown St. Louis is using DNA testing on dog poo to find the culprit and fine them.
The Galley 1014 Luxury Apartments require all tenants with dogs to register their pets with a cheek swab that is sent off to a company called PooPrints. It's based in Tennessee and works with apartment complexes, home owners associations, dog parks, campgrounds and more businesses all around the world to hold pet owners accountable.
How it works is, if dog feces is found, then someone with the apartment staff will collect it and have it sent to PooPrints. They run a test and in seven days are able to determine which dog it came from. Then Gallery will fine a first-time offender, but says repeat offenders can have their pet privileges revoked.
“At first their reaction is, ‘Are you serious? You can do that?’” PooPrints CEO Jay Retinger, who founded the company in 2010, told Fox 2.
His company now has 6,000 customers across the world.
“We get hundreds of pieces of poo in the mail a day. Bags and bags,” Retinger says.
The company says it hopes to "promote responsible ownership, protect the environment, and expand pet access" through its services. They say the EPA considers pet waste as one of the top-five pollutants, as runoff from unscooped pet waste can make its way into water systems, contaminating drinking water and other water source.
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