“I’m outraged that some people never clean up after their animals,” Mayor Robert Menard told local radio France Bleu at the weekend. “We did a count: the town picked up 1,000 (dog turds) just in the centre. That’s not right.
“We thought that if we put police officers on the street it would have an effect, but when there’s a police officer, people clean up. It’s when there’s no one around that they don’t crouch down and do their civic duty,” he added.
As per news agency AFP reports, Menard has been seeking to introduce dog DNA testing since the year 2016, but previously, his efforts were rejected by the state on legal grounds.
However, the 120-euro cleaning up fees will not be enforced for three months, with Menard promising that there will be a soft launch.
“People who don’t clean up after their dogs couldn’t give a damn about anyone,” Menard added. “Sometimes I hear people say, ‘It’s up to municipal workers to clean up after my dog.’ They’ll see now. It’s going to cost 120 euros.”
The mayor’s office in Beziers said cleaning up dog faeces cost the municipality of 75,000 people around 80,000 euros per year.
