Dog poo lottery

A city in Taiwan is offering people the chance to turn dog poo into gold by handing out special lottery tickets in exchange for every sack of shit they collect.

Residents of New Taipei City, bordering the capital Taipei, are scurrying to scoop up every scrap they can find after the government announced three winners will receive prizes of gold ingots worth $2,100.

The scheme was launched in August and has already seen over 4000 residents hand in more than 14,000 bags of waste.

Lai Lien-chueh, from the city's environmental protection bureau said the competition had been an unprecedented success.

The city has also launched a scheme which rewards people for photographing dog owners leaving mess uncleaned, and have stepped up its own 'poo patrols' in popular dog-walking areas.