Thus The New York Times today. “Appeals to decency have failed, so the operators of a condominium in Brooklyn turned to science to combat dog waste in the building’s halls and elevators,” explains the newspaper. The article made me laugh, but I also felt ever-so-slightly envious of all those who do not own dogs in the Brooklyn condominium in question. Would that the municipal authorities in Motovun could also turn to science to combat dog waste around the hilltown’s streets and squares. For there is no better way to pin down the dog owners concerned. And there is little premeditation involved in letting your dog defecate at the doorsteps of your political adversaries. I should know, too. For many a year a vocal opponent of the Istrian Democratic Assembly, a rapacious political party concerned with the wellbeing of its members only, I know that appeals to decency are pretty meaningless in Motovun and Istria at large. Nothing but DNA would do. If only science could be turned to in tracing all the other misdemeanors and outright crimes involved ever since Croatia’s independence more than a couple of decades ago…