HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- If you're not in the loop on dog poop, here's the scoop: A Huntsville apartment complex rolled out a new program last month to use a dog's DNA to identify waste left by the dog, but not collected by the owner.

Just call it CSI:Huntsville poop patrol.

"It's supposed to be a solution for responsible dog owners to make sure everybody is doing their part," said Jana Humphrey, property manager at Walden at Providence. "We do have a problem with that, with residents not picking up. We think that will help everybody."

The process begins with pet owners bringing their pet to a "pet interview," Humphrey said. Information on the dog is collected and a DNA sample is obtained by swabbing the mouth. The complex also puts a picture of the pet in its files.

The information is then submitted to PooPrints -- a company in Knoxville, Tenn., that has customers throughout the country. Then if poop is found at Walden, it's sent to Knoxville and tested against the DNA samples from the complex's pets.

If it seems like a laughable concept -- collecting DNA from dogs solely to identify exactly to whom the poop belongs -- that's because, in the beginning, it was laughable.

According to the company's website PooPrints.com, the idea began when a lab member at BioPet Vet Lab -- which founded PooPrints -- had a "particularly messy day walking their dog."

So as conversations continued at BioPet Vet Lab about ways to use DNA to help society, the distressed lab worked proposed the virtues of using DNA to identify dog poop.

"A few laughs later, we began to look into the actual issues posed by animal waste in our communities," the PooPrints website said.

A sister property of Walden in Knoxville tested the PooPrints idea and United Residential Properties, which owns Walden and other apartment complexes, decided to implement the program at all its properties.

At first blush, however, jokes are inevitable. And it doesn't help if you happen to announce the program to residents in April, as Walden did.

"We had people calling, 'Is this an April Fool's joke?'" Humphrey said. "No, this is serious."

But even Humphrey had to have a laugh about it.

"At first, I thought it was hilarious," Humphrey said. "I had a resident actually mention it to me last year that she moved here from Florida and they were doing it there. That was my first time hearing about it. I was like, 'Are you serious?'

"My company brought it up during a conference call and I thought, 'OK, this is serious.'"

It's serious, too, for dog owners if their pooch's poop is found on the grounds and a DNA match is made. Owners stand to be fined $150 when a DNA match is made, Humphrey said. Each DNA test costs about $60, according to the Poo Prints website.

"Actually, we've had great feedback -- even on the residents who do not have pets," Humphrey said. "We sent out letters announcing it on a Friday and we had people already coming in on Monday to get their pets registered. So far, really no one has been hesitant about it.

"Of course, everybody thought it was a joke."

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