Apartment Complex Is Using DNA to Link Dogs to Poop That Isn't Picked Up to Hold Owners Accountable

Tristan Balagtas
·2 min read
8
dog poop DNA testing
dog poop DNA testing

Getty

At a St. Louis apartment complex, tenants will be faced with serious consequences if they leave behind their dog's poop.

The downtown Gallery 1014 Luxury Apartments upholds its strict no poop policy, and by providing residents with pooper scoopers and waste bags, "there's really no excuse to not pick it up," resident Jake Bearden, who is dog dad to Dewey and Dog told Fox 2 Now.

Upon move-in, the apartment complex's district manager, Mike Kueker told the outlet dog-owning tenants must abide by their policy by taking cheek swabs of their fur babies and sending the sample to PooPrints, a Tennessee based lab that specializes in dog DNA waste management.

The dog's DNA will then be registered in the PooPrints database, and if dog poop is ever left behind on the apartment's property, staff can collect a sample and send it to the lab to find a match.

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"At first their reaction is, 'Are you serious? You can do that?'" PooPrints CEO J Retinger told the news station. "We get hundreds of pieces of poo in the mail a day. Bags and bags."

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According to their website, the millions of bacteria found in pet waste can be harmful to humans and other animals and can also contaminate water systems.

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The company's pet waste DNA program has gained traction since its inception in 2010 and is now used by over 6,000 properties in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

The Gallery Apartments said their program has come in handy at nabbing dog poo offenders.

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Kueker told the outlet, "Having Poo Prints really helped with that because we weren't having to go through video footage to try to find somebody or just giving up on it and just doing it ourselves."

If dog owners violate the policy the first time, they will face a fine, but repeat offenders will lose their pet privileges.