A big pile of DNA
By Mike Strobel, Toronto Sun
First posted: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 06:06 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 08:34 PM EDT
You were too busy fuming in traffic, sweating on the subway, weeping over your tax bill or fending off panhandlers to notice, but apparently there’s a big problem in Toronto.
Dog crap.
Sheesh. In Baghdad, Kabul, Karachi, Addis Ababa and Ottawa, they must look at Toronto and mutter, “Cry me a river.”
Doggy do. A pure First World problem. Until you step in it.
Which brings us to a park near Fort York and the launch of Poo Prints Canada on Wednesday. The company uses DNA to hunt down dog owners who don’t stoop ‘n’ scoop.
They take a swab from your dog’s mouth and list it in a DNA registry. If it later matches an illicit deposit on the sidewalk — some lucky security guard takes a sample for the lab — you’ll get a visit from the poo-lice.
In Toronto, the fine is $240, oddly the same penalty for keeping more than six cats, an animal smart enough to use a litter box.
My tabby, Tulip, just asked me: “So they’re gonna swab and register all those dogs?! Ha! This I gotta see!”
Yes, even Tulip can see the flaw in Poo Prints’ model, the fly on the pile, so to speak.
It’s like a gun registry. Criminals never sign up. The dog-owners who dutifully swab their dogs are also the ones most likely to dutifully pick up after them.
Garry Bradamore is the entrepooneur, so to speak, behind Poo Prints Canada. He recounts a litany of horrors from condo boards.
“It’s in the stairwells, it’s in parking garages, in elevators. In Liberty Village and down on Queens Quay, they’re throwing it off balconies.”
Really?! Remind me to wear a hat.
Two CityPlace condo boards barred new pets last month, though residents and lawyers are howling.
Bradamore says Poo Prints is a happy medium. Your pet can stay — if it provides DNA. The U.S. parent company has signed up 2,000 buildings since 2010 and Bradamore says he, too, is targeting condo boards. But he sees a wider market — municipalities tired of de-pooing their parks.
“Dog waste is a toxic chemical, you’re talking bacteria and viruses, so it’s a health and safety risk for communities.”
Bradamore demonstrates the swab collection on his maltese-yorkie cross. Little Winston looks pretty sick of it.
So I wander the Fort York area.
Stefanie Fetz, 25, is walking Toby, her shorkie, which, as every downtown condo dweller knows, is part yorkie, part shih tzu. Sometimes they’re pink, but Toby is au naturel.
“Makes no sense at all,” Ms. Fetz says of a dog DNA registry. “If poop is such a big issue, what about geese?
“And you know what’s worse than dogs around here? Horse poo.”
Sure enough, the Toronto mounted police stable is down the street.
Those steeds are no match for Boston, a beefy pit-lab cross. His master, noted tattoo artist Scoot Mason, 30, is a Poo Prints fan. “If you can’t pick up after a dog, you don’t deserve to have one,” he says.
Scoot pulls out an extra-large baggie. “This guy’s an animal,” he says with a grimace. “It’s the food. Makes him sh-- like crazy.”
Man, that is one big pile of DNA.
Strobel’s column usually runs Monday to Thursday. mstrobel@postmedia.com
A big pile of DNA | STROBEL | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
By Mike Strobel, Toronto Sun
First posted: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 06:06 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 08:34 PM EDT
You were too busy fuming in traffic, sweating on the subway, weeping over your tax bill or fending off panhandlers to notice, but apparently there’s a big problem in Toronto.
Dog crap.
Sheesh. In Baghdad, Kabul, Karachi, Addis Ababa and Ottawa, they must look at Toronto and mutter, “Cry me a river.”
Doggy do. A pure First World problem. Until you step in it.
Which brings us to a park near Fort York and the launch of Poo Prints Canada on Wednesday. The company uses DNA to hunt down dog owners who don’t stoop ‘n’ scoop.
They take a swab from your dog’s mouth and list it in a DNA registry. If it later matches an illicit deposit on the sidewalk — some lucky security guard takes a sample for the lab — you’ll get a visit from the poo-lice.
In Toronto, the fine is $240, oddly the same penalty for keeping more than six cats, an animal smart enough to use a litter box.
My tabby, Tulip, just asked me: “So they’re gonna swab and register all those dogs?! Ha! This I gotta see!”
Yes, even Tulip can see the flaw in Poo Prints’ model, the fly on the pile, so to speak.
It’s like a gun registry. Criminals never sign up. The dog-owners who dutifully swab their dogs are also the ones most likely to dutifully pick up after them.
Garry Bradamore is the entrepooneur, so to speak, behind Poo Prints Canada. He recounts a litany of horrors from condo boards.
“It’s in the stairwells, it’s in parking garages, in elevators. In Liberty Village and down on Queens Quay, they’re throwing it off balconies.”
Really?! Remind me to wear a hat.
Two CityPlace condo boards barred new pets last month, though residents and lawyers are howling.
Bradamore says Poo Prints is a happy medium. Your pet can stay — if it provides DNA. The U.S. parent company has signed up 2,000 buildings since 2010 and Bradamore says he, too, is targeting condo boards. But he sees a wider market — municipalities tired of de-pooing their parks.
“Dog waste is a toxic chemical, you’re talking bacteria and viruses, so it’s a health and safety risk for communities.”
Bradamore demonstrates the swab collection on his maltese-yorkie cross. Little Winston looks pretty sick of it.
So I wander the Fort York area.
Stefanie Fetz, 25, is walking Toby, her shorkie, which, as every downtown condo dweller knows, is part yorkie, part shih tzu. Sometimes they’re pink, but Toby is au naturel.
“Makes no sense at all,” Ms. Fetz says of a dog DNA registry. “If poop is such a big issue, what about geese?
“And you know what’s worse than dogs around here? Horse poo.”
Sure enough, the Toronto mounted police stable is down the street.
Those steeds are no match for Boston, a beefy pit-lab cross. His master, noted tattoo artist Scoot Mason, 30, is a Poo Prints fan. “If you can’t pick up after a dog, you don’t deserve to have one,” he says.
Scoot pulls out an extra-large baggie. “This guy’s an animal,” he says with a grimace. “It’s the food. Makes him sh-- like crazy.”
Man, that is one big pile of DNA.
Strobel’s column usually runs Monday to Thursday. mstrobel@postmedia.com
A big pile of DNA | STROBEL | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
