The Motocrotte, officially called Caninette and informally chiraclette was a small motorized vehicle designed to vacuum up

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...

faeces Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relati ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and other French cities. Introduced in 1982 by

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as May ...

(then

Mayor of Paris The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de Paris) is the chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to the ...

), the idea was to provide a rapid mobile strike force, which could travel great distances with access to

sidewalk A sidewalk ( North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, ston ...

s in a minimum of time, to perform a very specific action. The fleet of 100 vehicles was based initially on Yamaha XT 550 and later the XT 600, with a large tank to the rear which housed both water and waste, attached to a vacuum-powered hose which was placed over the material required to be removed. The project was abandoned in 2002, for a new and better enforced local law which now fines dog owners up to 500

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens ...

s for not removing their dog faeces. It was estimated at the time of their removal, that the fleet of 70 Motocrottes were cleaning up only 20% of dog faeces on Parisian streets, for an annual cost of £3million. Use continued in other French cities including Montpellier as of 2016.

References

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Paris-Chiens
History of Paris Dog equipment Waste collection vehicles Utility motorcycles {{France-stub

See also

References

External links