Usually we have to submit fecal samples from our pets that the vet reviews for parasites. It is a simple analysis under the microscope that can weed out various worms and gastrointestinal inhabitants. We never thought it would be a marketing company that boxes up the poop for later delivery to the owner and not a lab for veterinarian reviews.

When the veterinarian reviews your pets poop, he is not the only one anymore. In Brunete, Spain, on the outskirts of Madrid, they have created a novel way to punish pet owners that do not pick up after their pets. There, they have begin returning dog poop to the owners via gift box.

Some might call it a clever incentive to keep people honest, but they were facing an increasing problem of pet excrement on the sidewalks and parks. So they teamed with an advertising agency to publicly shame some of the offenders. This was after a previous marketing campaign that saw them chasing residents with remote controlled cars, disguised as dog poop, that advertised a cleanup policy. While funny, it was not effective at stemming the tide of turds.

It also shows a little social engineering can go a long way to catching the culprits. You see the volunteer investigators would follow pets through the town and identify owners that were not picking up after their pets. Then the investigator would make casual conversation with the pet owner, and find out the breed and pet name at the same time. Oh, and the investigator would go back and box up the feces for later delivery. The pets name and breed was then cross referenced with the town pet database to find the offender.

For the final humiliation, the pet owner received a knock at their door. When answering, the resident got a gift of poop from the town Lost and Found Department and a fine. Reports show that the dog poop problem has significantly decreased, by over 70 percent, now that the town has turned to those tactics.