French town brings in €135 fine for dog owners who leave their pet’s mess on pavement

A commune in eastern France is set to introduce a fine for pet owners who leave uncleaned mess in public, following several other areas that have brought in similar policies. 

Dog owners who fail to clean up poop risk a fine of €135 from mid-May onwards in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, a suburb of Strasbourg. 

Currently, a ‘warning and prevention’ phase is in place, with local police officers informing residents walking their dogs of the new rules and putting up flyers about the incoming penalties.

Uncleaned dog mess is circled with fluorescent orange spray paint to warn other owners, and a sign saying ‘trottoir, pas crottoir’ (a play on words of trottoir, pavement, and crotte, animal poop) stenciled next to it. 

“With the return of warm weather, we've had a number of complaints from residents, especially families who wanted to take advantage of the parks to let their children play,” said mayor of the commune Thibaud Philipps to local media France3.

“These are incivilities that bother park and road users, of course, but they also harm the majority of dog owners who do things properly and are then stigmatized.” 

‘Anti-mess infrastructure’ in place

The fines are a last resort, with the commune hoping that dog walkers do the right thing and simply clean up the mess rather than risk the financial penalty. 

“We've installed dog waste bag dispensers and free-roaming areas: these are fenced areas where dogs can be let off the leash and where owners have everything they need to pick up the droppings,” the mayor said. 

Local police officers have identified the busiest times for dog-walking in the commune – that has around 27,000 inhabitants – and the most popular routes, so they can be vigilant for any potential mess.

The mayor said that cleaning up dog mess was not a ‘priority’ for the commune, but the measure is “part of an overall cleanliness and safety policy.” 

Fines, DNA databases, vigilante action

The commune is the latest in a string of areas to introduce anti-dog waste measures. 

Several communes have similar fines in place for dog owners caught failing to clean up their mess, such as in Bergerac (Dordogne).

In the south, towns in the Alpes-Maritimes and in Hérault require dog owners to hand in DNA of their pets to compile a local database. 

Samples of dog mess left in the towns are then collected and cross-referenced with the database so that guilty owners can be found and fined.

Read more: DNA of pet dogs to be used to trace mess on streets in village near Nice

In some areas, local residents take matters into their own hands. 

A vigilante figure in Dordogne began planting white flags in uncleaned dog mess earlier this year, in an attempt to shame dog owners into cleaning up.