Dresden city council wants DNA matching for doggy-doo

March 31, 2005 Councillors at Dresden City Council in Germany would like to match doggy-doo left by pets on the sidewalk and in parks, against a database storing profiles for all of the city's 12,000 registered dogs. Karl Jobig, a politician in Dresden, was surprised when his proposal received a majority vote.

"In this way, Dresden will once again be one of the cleanest cities in Germany," Roland Putzger, the leader of the local council, told .

DNA from registered dogs would be collected from blood or saliva for the "genetic fingerprinting" service.

's data protection commissioner, Andreas Schurig, ruled that dogs had no rights over their data and could not object to the compulsory tests.

The proposal will be binding if the council passes it by majority vote in May.