'Poo vigilantes' and other creative ways people are tackling dog mess
- Published
This vigilante likes to hide in bushes and surprise unsuspecting messers
A borough in east London has started DNA testing dog poo.
Despite facing fines of up to £100 for not picking up dog mess, some still aren't cleaning up after their pets.
Authorities in Barking will run tests as a pilot for three months.
DNA will then be compared to a database of registered owners.
From poo vigilantes to artists, these people responded creatively to a very smelly problem.
Camouflage poop patrol
If you've walked your dog in Leiston in Suffolk and thought better of picking up your pooch's business - chances are you've made Andrew Hawes' Facebook, external page.
He takes photos of the culprits and publishes them if owners refuse to clear up the mess.
Mr Hawes claims he'll pass the details to police once offenders are identified.
Andrew Hawes likes to paint warnings on paths, as well as highlight where the dog poo actually is
Poo art
One person's foul is another's masterpiece - especially if you're in New York.
A number of Instagram accounts have appeared showing canine faeces covered in golden glitter.
This gold paint achieves more of an artistic finish. , external
You could even mistake them for bullions...or not. , external
The artist told Huff Post it was about transforming the poo, external into a symbol: "People are insanely superficial and really attracted to shiny things," he explained.
Night-vision goggles
Stafford Borough Council hopes night-vision goggles will help staff catch irresponsible dog owners
In November, staff at Staffordshire Borough Council were issued with night-vision goggles to catch offenders in the darker winter months.
The staff wore special uniforms and badges whilst using the £200 "monocular", which has a built-in laser illuminator to improve viewing in the dark.
The 'poo alert' flag
That'll teach them
There are a number of instances where people have inserted flags into excrement to highlight the error of owner's ways.
Campaigners near Brighton armed themselves with cocktail sticks, and planted nearly 300 "poo alert" flags.
It took Lori Cronin and Candy Foster around six hours.
Poopstagram
Dog owners are being urged to clean up after their pets, but previous initiatives have failed
A city in Japan tried to crack down on dog fouling by asking people to take photos of any canine mess they encounter and upload the images to a new app.
The authorities in Izumisano, in central Osaka Prefecture, tried out the new method after years of failed attempts to solve the city's dog mess problem, the Asahi Shimbun website reports.
Locals are invited to post comments detailing the scene alongside their photo submissions, and the app uses GPS location data from their smartphones to create an interactive online map.
Posting the poo
*It's not known if any of these packages contain dog poo - but you get the idea
These vigilantes come in the form of a small town called Brunete in Spain.
A team there patrolled the town's streets where they then approached the guilty owner and chatted to them to work out the name of the dog.
"With the name of the dog and the breed it was possible to identify the owner from the registered pet database held in the town hall," a council spokesperson said.
They'd then package up the poo labelling it as "Lost Property" and delivered it by courier to the owners home.
Christmas really can come early.
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