Hollywood Station Condo resident Joleen McKenzie, armed with a dog waste bag, walks her dog, Diva, outside her condo in Hollywood, Florida. For six months, her condo has collected DNA samples from pets in the condo and fined more than 10 owners for leaving offending waste. McKenzie says there was excess of dog waste before the DNA testing, and now she has seen a significant improvement. "For the most part it's really improved quite a bit and hopefully when there is dog feces, people are being held responsible and being fined for it," McKenzie said. (Susan Stocker/Sun Sentinel/MCT)
Apartment complex uses doggy DNA to track down owners who don't scoop poop
Miriam Valverde, Sun SentinelFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Tiffany Acosta had a problem. The issue of dog droppings at the properties she manages had gotten so out of hand that neighbors were fighting with each other.
Nothing worked to resolve the issue. So late last year Acosta took an extreme measure. She made every dog in the 360-unit Hollywood Station complex submit to DNA testing -- yes, DNA testing -- and now when a complex employee finds a mess and tests it, the pet owner gets fined as much as $150.
And that has nearly solved the problem, she said.
"It's been very successful," Acosta said. "I think (the DNA testing) changed people's behavior.
"It's brought light to how bad it is. We had to go to this extent."
The DNA-tracking capability has motivated residents to pick up after their pets and has improved the messy situation by at least 85 percent, Acosta said. About 15 to 20 pet owners have been fined after the DNA collection, she said.
It doesn't take much to start the program. Dog DNA collection is a "very simple, easy, mess-free, pain-free" process, said Eric Mayer, business development director for BioPet Vet Lab.
Pet owners swab inside the mouth of their dogs and then mail it in a special container to the Tennessee-based laboratory for storage, said Acosta. The dog's identifying information is stored in a database.
"At that point, the community pet policy is now enforceable," Mayer said.
Acosta said it costs $35 to register pets and $50 to analyze the waste samples. Hollywood Station doesn't charge residents to register their pets -- it's part of their nonrefundable $350 pet deposit -- but subsequent fines are subtracted from their security deposit, Acosta said. They've upped their violation fee from $100 to $150 to compensate for the testing costs.
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