The Common Dog

Man's best friend?

Next time you take your pooch out for a walk, be sure to bring his droppings home with you. Man's best friend is guilty of excreting disease-causing materials, which according to recent studies, contaminate the environment and people's health. Scientists developed lab techniques similar to DNA fingerprinting that tracked the source of the fecal bacteria to dogs. And although methods are new, pooches may be guilty of 20 percent to 30 percent of the pollution in streams (Traci Watson, USA Today, June 7,2001).

A good way to catch stray dogs is the Collarum Trap. This trap when fired throughs a loop around the dogs head. The dog is unharmed as the loop tension relaxes when the dog stops struggling.