Here’s the Scoop: Keep Pet Waste Off R.I. Beaches
By AMIE PARRIS and LAUREN RUSSO/special to ecoRI News
Pet waste is 57 percent more toxic than human waste, according to the EPA, and can harbor bacteria and parasites that cause illness in humans. Diseases spread by pet waste include campylobacteriosis, giardiasis, salmonellosis and toxocariasis. All of these illnesses can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Some of the other symptoms may include fever, rash and/or headache.
Children who are playing in beach sand can come in contact with pet waste and then put their unwashed hands in their mouth. In addition, rainwater or the tides can carry and spread pet-waste bacteria into swimming waters. In both of these cases, pet waste can make people sick. Just two or three days’ worth of waste from 100 dogs can contribute enough bacteria to temporarily close a large area to swimming or shell fishing.
Pet waste also contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, and can cause an increase in algae growth — algal blooms — in Narragansett Bay . When bacteria decomposes algal blooms, they require oxygen from the water. During decomposition, the water’s oxygen supply is used by bacteria instead of by animals.
When pet waste is thrown in storm drains, the runoff from streets to these drains washes the waste right into the bay and ocean.
In 2011, the state Department of Health’s Beach Program partnered with the University of Rhode Island Undergraduate Research Initiative to investigate the extent of pet waste at Ocean State
If pet waste was observed on a beach, water samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of E. coli bacteria — one in five of the beaches where pet waste was observed had elevated levels of E. coli bacteria. Results from the study were utilized in educational outreach materials that stress the importance of cleaning up after pets.
Regulations regarding pet use at beaches vary by facility management, according to the study/survey. Many Rhode Island
More than 100 people were polled at beaches throughout the state during the investigation. The results of the survey included:
82 percent of respondents said pet waste on the beach is a problem.
23 percent had seen or come across pet waste on the beach.
74 percent said pet waste on public beaches should be better regulated.
Less than half of the respondents knew the regulations regarding dog use at the beach they were visiting.
23 percent had seen or come across pet waste on the beach.
74 percent said pet waste on public beaches should be better regulated.
Less than half of the respondents knew the regulations regarding dog use at the beach they were visiting.
In Rhode Island Rhode Island
Know and follow the rules of every beach and public area that you visit.
No dogs allowed on state beaches from April 1 to Sept. 30.
Ordinances and potential fines vary by municipality, but rules are generally posted at each city/town beach.
Dispose of pet waste in a proper disposal receptacle.
Don’t throw pet waste near or in storm drains.
No dogs allowed on state beaches from April 1 to Sept. 30.
Ordinances and potential fines vary by municipality, but rules are generally posted at each city/town beach.
Dispose of pet waste in a proper disposal receptacle.
Don’t throw pet waste near or in storm drains.
Amie Parris and Lauren Russo are with the state Department of Health’s Beach Program. This article originally was published in the Winter 2011 Narragansett Bay Journal.
I do clean up after my dogs, because I don't want to step in it myself any more than anyone else does. But let's get real: The ocean is not exactly sanitary to begin with; it's just a giant toilet bowl for fish and marine mammals, really. Beach sand is composed of 14% fish feces. And when you consider how much trash gets dumped in the oceans worldwide, and how many oil spills, etc., etc., seems a little silly to get too worked up over a little pet waste.
ReplyDeleteOK Linda, the air has lots of pollution in it as well. So everyone should just keep on polluting?
ReplyDeleteWhy should people have to put up with dog crap on the beach? If I had a dollar for every time I saw dog crap on the beach or someone walkiing their dog on the beach despite the ordinance banning dogs (during the summer months), I would have enough to afford your proposed homestead exemption for a year or two.
I have neighbors who allow their dogs to crap in my yard. I can file a complaint with the police but it takes three different neighbors to complain before something is done. Maybe I will just start crapping in their yard and on the beach. No big deal. After all, it seems a bit silly to get worked up over a little crap.
Jerry
If you'd read my first sentence, of course everyone needs to clean up after their dogs. And in my experience, people do. I've never come across feces that was just left on the beach. Not once. And I'm there pretty much daily in the summer.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ordinances, they only forbid dogs on the beach during lifeguard hours, and only down to the high-tide line. Below the high tide line, anyone is free to go anywhere any time. And again, when I see dogs on the beach, that's generally where they are, down along the water. So your proposed "fine" wouldn't even raise as much money as that "illegal" collection box at the Rhythm and Roots festival that Jim Mageau's been complaining about.
Lastly, if dog feces is so distressing to you, you definitely don't want to go to the beach after October, when they start letting people ride horseback on the beach. You probably also don't want to think too hard about where workers defecate when they're working on the exterior of someone's locked home during the day while the owners are at work and no porta john is provided. Just sayin'.
I suppose you have never seen a dog off of its leash either....
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, given the general nitpickiness of our town ordinances, they don't require dogs to be on leashes, just under the owner's control.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could educate me, then, since I obviously can't read.
ReplyDelete