My Condo Association Is Demanding DNA Sample From My Dog
Dave and his wife live in a condo complex in Northern Virginia. They also own a dog. Now, because of new a rule by his condo association, they and anyone else who owns a dog has 30 days to provide a DNA sample of their canine companion.
According to the letter Dave received from his condo association [emphasis is ours]:
As part of the registration process, dog owners must pay a registration fee to be determined by the Board of Directors, and which may vary from time to time as necessary. The Association will use these fees to defray the costs of enforcement of this policy and the rectification of damages and wear and tear caused by dogs within the community. The Association will provide each dog owner with a kit designed for the purpose of taking a DNA sample of the dog for identification purposes. Dog owners are required to obtain and use the kit to take the DNA sample in the clubhouse in the presence of the On-Site Manager. The Association will forward those samples to a special company for storage and, if necessary, further testing.
So not only are they requiring condo owners to register their dogs. The association also doesn't trust dog-owning residents to take the DNA sample on their own, lest you provide them with DNA from your goldfish.
http://consumerist.com/2012/03/condo-association-is-dna-sample-from-my-dog.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Dog owners that don't pooper scoop deserve to be chastised, fined, whatever. But, it takes little imagination to consider how many ways this can be abused.
First of all, there is no way to remove all DNA evidence from the area of defecation, no matter how carefully one removes the waste--so a neighbor with "issues" could readily manipulate this fact. Ditto, urination. Not to mention the fact that dogs will not infrequently defecate or urinate in areas where other dogs may have "marked" earlier--so whose DNA is really being tested? Without documented "chain of custody" by those with some kind of basic training and authority, what damned civil court would allow this kind of idiocy? And, since this would likely be small claims court, there is little reason that most dog owners should NOT fight it--rigorously. Of course there will be expense incurred for all that testing. Perhaps that is really the point? Perhaps someone has a financial interest in all of this ridiculous testing?
Go after the louses that fail to be responsible, sure, but let them take cell phone video--or some other evidence, for heavens sake. And maybe start with a few warnings?
Gawd, how common sense has surely ended in our society...
