In Béziers (Hérault), if your dog puts down a peach, beware of the plum. From now on, in the city center of the Hérault sub-prefecture, thanks to DNA, owners who do not pick up their doggies’ droppings will receive, at home, a bill of 122 euros. The price of cleaning a turd on the public highway, details the municipality.
This measure, which Robert Ménard (various right) has wanted to implement since 2017, has been denounced several times by the prefecture, and overturned by the administrative court. But now, the anti-poop decree looks fine, and it hasn’t been attacked. The municipality has, in fact, modified the elements which posed a problem: it is, for the moment, only a two-year experiment, and its perimeter was limited to the city center. Finally, owners of careless dogs will no longer be liable to a fine, as recommended in the first texts drawn up by the town hall, but will receive an invoice.
The droppings are “a plague for all mayors”, deplores Robert Ménard
This system, a first in France, aims to combat “the scourge” of uncollected dog waste. “It’s a real problem, I’ve been complaining for years,” confides Robert Ménard to 20 minutes. In the heart of the city of Béziers, municipal services collect between 1,500 and 1,700 droppings per month! It’s a scourge for all mayors. But we don’t know how to do it. We all run “Be careful, we’re going to give you a fine” campaigns, but the police never catch the owners in the act, so it’s ineffective. » To implement this decree which is causing so much discussion, the elected official says he was inspired by a system “which exists in around fifty towns in Spain”.
But how can the town hall find the owners of the fraudulent dogs? Thanks to DNA. “Canine DNA”, as the town called it. Each dog that is used to walking in the city center of Béziers must have undergone a genetic sample: a small swab of a cotton swab in the animal’s mouth, which will allow it to be recorded by the laboratory responsible for this device. Nothing painful, promises the municipality. The process is mandatory: if an owner is checked in the city center and does not have the document attesting that his dog has undergone a DNA sample, he will be fined 38 euros. And it’s not just for residents of Béziers. Residents living in the surrounding area and who are used to walking with their dogs in the city center will also have to hold this genetic passport. “The only exemption that we can grant is to tourists who visit Béziers, of course,” explains Stéphanie Sandonato, the deputy general director of municipal services.
“This will calm the ardor” of unscrupulous owners, assures the mayor
So, when the field guards spot abandoned droppings, they will take a small sample, which will be sent to the laboratory. Thanks to the genetic identification of the animal, it can be found. And its owner too, to whom the town hall will send the 122 euros due to clean up the droppings of his four-legged companion. “I guarantee you that this will calm the ardor of those who do not behave well,” assures Robert Ménard. The mayor of Valencia, Spain, explained to me that in six months, 90% of dog droppings had disappeared in his town. » And in Béziers, if we are to believe the town hall, the measure is barely in force when, already, motorcycle agents are collecting fewer: 1,100 in August, 400 to 600 less than usual.
Robert Ménard is, moreover, sure that this measure “will spread like wildfire” in France. “You know, I try to keep my city well, keep it clean. I don’t want tourists to look where they’re walking, I prefer that they admire the city,” continues the mayor, who has no use for those who have made fun of his anti-poop decree for several years. years. “Perhaps Béziers is not the past, but the avant-garde of this country,” he says. Moreover, “many municipalities call the town hall to find out more about this system,” adds its deputy general director.
It is a “disproportionate” measure, for Nicolas Cossange (PCF)
For Nicolas Cossange (PCF), opposition municipal councilor in Béziers and departmental secretary of the PCF, this decree is “lunar”. “Is this a buzz?” You know, the buzz and Robert Ménard, it has almost become a pleonasm, he confides. Like many measures that Robert Ménard has taken in recent years, such as the ban on hanging laundry on balconies or the ban on spitting, it is a measure which is, in reality, inapplicable, with regard to the finances of the municipality. If, for each dropping, a DNA test is implemented, the bill will be very, very steep. In one of the poorest cities in France, putting so many resources into such a measure, when the priorities seem completely different to me, makes absolutely no sense. » So yes, “of course, you have to clean up the dog waste. I can’t even believe I’m telling you this! », smiles the elected communist. But, according to him, this measure is “disproportionate”.
The city of Béziers provides 80,000 euros each year for the fight against dog droppings. If a surplus is to be expected for the implementation of this new system, it will end up being balanced, we assure, at the town hall. Because the envelope allocated to “canine DNA” will be offset by the reduction in the number of droppings to be cleaned in the city center, she hopes. Friday and Saturday, on Allée Paul-Riquet, samples will be offered by the municipality to dog owners. Nearly 700 doggies are registered for these meetings. Then, the little swab on the lips will cost a little more than 28 euros for the owners, at the veterinarians.