Charley Allen's Weird and Wonderful World: Databases for Dog Poo?

In her latest column, Charley Allen discusses the barking madness of making a database for dog poo.

Photo credits to timparkinson

There is nothing worse than stepping in dog poo, and in the Isle of Wight it seems the problem has got bad enough that they are considering creating a dog DNA database in an attempt to catch guilty owners who do not clear up after their dogs.

David Pugh, leader of the Isle of Wight Council, is the one behind this idea and says that it may be the only solution to finding the offenders who are notoriously difficult to prosecute. He told a council meeting: “We could test samples against the database and trace it to the dog’s owner. I imagine we would see an immediate cessation to the problem.”

Yes, I am sure that it would stop the problem but are you really going to cut public services and then spend a fortune instead on finding out whether a dog poo belongs to Buster or Coco, and then follow the trail to who owns Buster or Coco?! It would not even be guaranteed to work as the owner would have to give consent to a DNA sample being taken from their dog and so obviously owners with a lazy tendency to leave their dog’s mess are not going to be the ones who agree to this. Perhaps there is a slight flaw in the plan.

I think it would be more sensible to encourage police to be more vigilant and strict with the problem, adding “poo patrol” to their list of priorities. In the UK the streets are not too bad; go to France or Spain and you will find yourself having to play hopscotch to avoid all the left mess.

At the end of the day, it is down to social tendency and habit and wherever the problem is bad, it is because the people are badly educated on this matter. Agreed, it is a problem that needs to be sorted out, but is a dog poo DNA database a serious answer?

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

Is the "Homeless Drug Addict" Stereotype a Defence for Doing Nothing?

Rachel Brown looks at the current controversy regarding homelessness on the streets of Exeter and asks if the, “Homeless drug addict” stereotype is more of an excuse for general apathy towards the homeless population.

“But look! You can get a fiver out of the cash machine over there!” went the feared retort fired at the passer-by who had “engaged”. On the receiving end, I mumbled a doubtful defence and hurried away, probably to buy “the good bread” from Marks and Spencer. In the wake of Exeposé’s front-page article which said that drunken, Jack Wills donning Exeter students are the target of boozed-up beggars who really have accommodation, we must reflect: do intimidating experiences justify our detachment from homelessness when it is in our streets and actually, “it” is sat outside Sainsbury’s looking mournful and clutching his dog for warmth?

Photo Credit: Hotpix [LRPS] via Compfight cc

It’s reasonable that when giving money to drug-addicted homeless people, we are actually keeping them on the streets and away from support. But what about the rest of the homeless population who are not shooting-up every night courtesy of student goodwill? “Homelessness is not what you think” says Kay Hammond of Emmaus, an Exeter-based homelessness charity. “Yes there are a lot of drugs and alcohol, but there’s also a lot of returning service personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder, and a lot of families – people who never thought they’d end up homeless.” These are the stories of the homeless overshadowed by the smackhead stereotype; that same stereotype giving us licence to avoid eye-contact and walk past, guilt-free. Additionally, how do we know “the help is out there” without up-to-date insider knowledge? Just days ago, a charity for homeless young people, Nightstop made a Radio Exe request for more host families because demand is increasing. It’s nice and simple to apply a blanket approach of “do not give money”, but homelessness is not simple because it’s human.

We are talking about people as unique as you and me, and what actually happens with the blanket approach is we stereotype and may end up giving nothing of ourselves to homelessness. It’s time to stop, make eye contact and realise the burden is on us to know what the right thing to do is. We must engage. That involves finding out what local support resources are really like and giving our time or money to the right ones. When safe, we must talk with those homeless in our community’s streets. Who is the homeless person sat outside your Sainsbury’s? Well, we didn’t exchange names but his canine pal did get a tin of dog food from me!

Rachel Brown

Hopefully he had a can opener too!  Is the assumption that a homeless person is a drug addict an unfortunate reality or just an excuse for us not to part with our pennies? Write a reply below or post a comment to the Exeposé Comment Facebook Group.