On Monday night, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council approved an amendment to the Municipal bylaw, making it compulsory for dog owners to register their pets to a DNA database. This will then allow municipal inspectors to collect samples from dog feces left uncollected in the streets, and a fine will be sent by mail to the owner who did not clean up. According to the bylaw, they will also be charged for the sampling and testing expenses.
The law has been submitted to the Interior Ministry for examination, and is awaiting approval.
The municipality calculated that an estimated 500 kilos of dog feces are not picked up from the street every month, and hope that this new law will work to decrease the amount.
"The municipality, for its part, has worked hard to eradicate the issue of collecting feces, by distributing tickets to dog owners, placing bag collection facilities in gardens and parks and establishing dozens of dog parks throughout the city – but this does not diminish dog owners' responsibility to keep the public space clean," a municipality representative said.
The ratio of humans to dogs in Tel Aviv-Yafo is one of the highest in the world, with one in every 11 people in the area owning a dog.
The municipality launched its campaign encouraging owners to pick up after their dogs in April after it was found that during 2020 there was a significant increase in the amount of dog feces not collected by dog owners in the city, as well as an increase in residents' dissatisfaction with this hazard.
In 2020 alone, some 6,766 service calls were opened in the 106 Plus service center and in the 106+ app, regarding cleaning and enforcement in the public space. The Green Patrol, which is responsible for enforcing the issue, distributed more than 3,500 tickets to people who did not collect their dog's feces.
"The cleanliness of the public space is an integral part of the appearance of the city – and the municipality hopes that the municipal actions to reduce the phenomenon will indeed bring about a change among dog owners who do not collect their dog's feces in the city," their statement said.
"The municipality believes that through the information, enforcement and cooperation of all the city's residents, there will be an improvement in this issue, for the sake of the quality of life in the city."