I have huge sympathy for the users of the Rodwell Trail, as reported in the Echo last week, which suffers from the thoughtlessness of a significant number of dog-owners, only a minute proportion of whom have been fined for fouling by their animals. It is yet another indicator of anti-social behaviour (littering being a further example) to which the responsibile majority of the population continue to be subjected.

However, in this case surely the answer, if the powers that be are actually prepared to take action, is readily available with current advances in technology? I refer to DNA profiling, which, as reported in the national papers recently, has been taken up by a council elsewhere in the country to counter fouling of a public park. Dog owners wishing to exercise in that park have to register and provide DNA samples of their dogs, which, if subsequently found in dog mess deposited in the park, leads to prosecution. Of course, anybody who signs up is not going to allow that to happen, and dog owners who have not registered are liable to be fined if caught exercising their dog/s in the park.

Blindingly simple, and I would have thought similar bye laws could quite easily be imposed on the Rodwell Trail, and elsewhere in the longer term, particularly as I believe dog microchipping is due to become a legal requirement fairly soon.

Chris Lousley

West Stafford