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Have you ever been told your dog’s not allowed to join you when you spend the day at the beach? That could all change thanks to a new research study that will be published later this year in the journal environmental science and Technologies.
Believe it or not, all those sea gulls you see flying over beaches and picking up trash pose a serious threat to human health. We’re talking sea gull poo. Sea gull poo has been identified as a significant cause of contamination of beach sand and surface water, depositing substantial amounts of the bacteria E. coli and Enterococcus that can be harmful to humans. It is estimated that bacteria from contamination by feces can result in $1000’s in lost daily revenue from forced beach closures for health reasons.
Researchers from the us environmental protection agency investigated whether dogs trained to chase gulls could successfully improve water and beach quality. Harmful bacteria typically found in poo were measured at a Lake Michigan beach during a couple weeks before and again after gull harassment by dogs. One or two trained border Collies and their handlers chased ring-billed and herring gulls after receiving training for bird identification so they wouldn’t disturb birds that might be protected or endangered. And, of course, handlers were responsible for collecting their dog’s poo.
Before the dog harassment, an average of 665 gulls was counted on the beach each day. After one week with the border Collies, the number of gulls dropped to 17 per day. before the dogs were added, the amount of harmful E. coli exceeded limits that were considered to be safe on 2 of 11 days and Enterococcus levels were higher than safe levels on additional 4 of 11 days. during an 11-day sampling period after the border Collies were added, bacteria counts never were higher than safe levels.
Bacteria that are potentially harmful to humans exceeded safe limits over half of the days tested before dogs were added to chase gulls. After dogs were added, no days had harmful bacteria counts that were above safe limits.
So what’s the best way to keep beaches open, safe, and healthy? add some dogs to the beach staff!
health benefits of Pets