The Israeli city of Petah Tikva is building a DNA database to help reward and punish dog owners.

The animal is taken to a vet for a swab and the results are kept on file.

Owners who scoop up their dogs’ droppings and place them in specially marked bins on Petah Tikva’s streets will be eligible for rewards of pet food coupons and dog toys.

But droppings found underfoot in the street and matched through the DNA database to a registered pet could earn its owner a municipal fine.

It’s certainly a novel way of doing things. But, as one Slashdotter muses, ” I wonder what sin you had to commit in a previous life to find yourself the official dog poop examiner of Petah Tikva, Israel”.

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