In Tres Cantos they are analyzing the DNA of uncollected dog poop and fining the owners

The landscape, the species of trees, the flowers in the flowerbeds, the design of the paths or the games for children may vary, but in the parks of Spain (and many other countries) there are certain “basics” that are not usually missing: there are benches, there are fountains… and there is dog poopan annoying reminder that citizens do not always comply with the obligations that come with having pets.

In recent years some city councils have tried to solve it creating DNA bases that allow them to locate the owners of the dogs and punish them if they do not take care of their feces. For a while, receiving one of those fines sounded like a distant threat, but in Spain there are already town councils passing from theory to practice. The last example Tres Cantos leaves it, in Madrid.

What has happened? That the Tres Cantos City Council said goodbye to 2025 by activating its machinery to fine people who breaks its regulations. So far nothing out of the ordinary. The curious thing is the offense that is being pursued and above all how the City Council hunts down the offenders. What it has done is use the “canine DNA detection service” to fine those neighbors who ignore the excrement that their pets leave on sidewalks, parks and gardens.

The ordinance makes it clear that people who walk pets through the municipality must collect “immediately” (and throw in the trash) the poop they leave in any area where pedestrians pass. Failure to do so is considered an infraction that, according to TeleMadrid specifiescarries fines of several hundred euros: between 300 and 600, depending on whether or not the offender is a repeat offender.

Is it something new? Tres Cantos announced a year and a half ago his intention to create a “canine genetic census” to have the municipality’s dogs ‘registered’ and thus be able to identify excrement abandoned in the streets. In 2024 even launched a campaign baptized ‘I’m from Tres Cantos, it’s in my DNA’ in which it asked neighbors to register their pets in the following months.

The idea was that people would take their animals to an authorized clinic to perform a simple test (basically taking a saliva sample) that would allow them to be registered. The procedure costs about 40 eurosbut the Consistory recalled that it is mandatory. Failure to do so also carries a penalty.

The measure did not remain on paper and throughout the last few months the City Council has intensified their efforts to put it into practice, even with collection days of excrement. The surprise (and this is new) came on December 30, when the local government advertisement that the canine DNA system has already allowed him to identify “several owners” of dogs who do not pick up their pets’ feces. And he warned: “He will be punished”

But… Is it that important? Yes it is. And not only because the measure wants to once and for all solve the problem of dog poop in cities. As remember from Tres Cantosthe canine registry is obtained in a “simple and harmless” way for the animal and serves many more purposes than sanctioning.

“The genetic census is a reliable tool that protects animals, since it allows them to be located if they are lost, mistreated or abandoned, providing scientific certainty in possible judicial processes, claims and complaints,” claimed in July 2024 the Councilor for Public Health. In fact, the canine genetic census has already helped to resolve cases of puppy abandonment.

Does it only happen in Tres Cantos? No. The idea of ​​canine DNA censuses has permeated more municipalities in Spain. In December 2024, Pipper on Tour estimated that 81 locations They already require pet owners to take them to clinics to have blood or saliva samples taken to carry out a census. In recent years the idea has attracted municipalities such as Malaga, Collado Villalba, Santa Eularia, Cornellà either Alcala de Henaresamong others.

The latter in fact has a “canine CSI” for offenders who risk fines of between 300 and 3,000 euros. In its first year the program made it possible about 200 disciplinary proceedings, although many were directed at owners who still did not register their pets. In July Santa Eulària celebrated also that canine DNA has reduced fecal alerts by half.

Images | Bruce Warrington (Unsplash) and Monika Simeonova (Unsplash)

In Xataka | Rats are growing by 300% in some cities around the world. And the problem is that we have no idea how to avoid it.