No Dogs Allowed On Beaches: Here's Why
Date 2007/7/2 23:26:29 | Topic: Recreation
|  No dogs are allowed at the beaches of Truesdale Lake.
Why are no dogs allowed on these areas?
- Westchester County prohibits pets from designated swimming areas.
- It is against the TEA Beach Rules.
- It is against the TLPOA Beach Rules.
- Common sense says any area where small children are likely to play should be off-limits to dog traffic based on the risk of diseases and parasites such as hookworm, roundworm, and campylobacter. (click here for brochure)
- These diseases can cause fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and blindness. The effects are more severe for our youngest and most at-risk citizens.
From the Federal Centers For Disease Control (CDC) website:
Quote:Some people are more likely than others to get diseases from dogs. A person's age and health status may affect his or her immune system, increasing the chances of getting sick. People who are more likely to get diseases from dogs include infants, children younger than 5 years old, organ transplant patients, people with HIV/AIDS, and people being treated for cancer. Special advice is available for people who are at greater risk than others of getting diseases from animals.
See the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) website for more information.
If you think "My dogs are clean, dewormed, etc. so they shouldn't be a problem -- I'll take my dog to run on the beach when no one is around" then you are placing your short term needs above the long-term health of the lake community. Why take the chance?
Any problems that happen will affect the small children who are the most frequent beach users -- and also the most likely to encounter your pet's feces in the sand at the beach. Nobody knows with absolute certainty that their pet is disease or parasite free. Why take the chance?
"I wouldn't let my pet 'go' anywhere on the beach area." If you have a remote control switch for your pet's bowels I am sure other dog owners would love to get one too. Be realistic. Why take the chance?
We have also heard "the geese poop on the beach all the time - what difference will my dog make?" While it is true that geese share our lake, they are also wild animals. Unlike dogs, they have no owner who is responsible for them. Also, there are fish in the lake, and frogs, and turtles, and heron, racoons, muskrats, fishers, otters, and the occasional bald eagle. All presumably do their business in the lake. Again we have no choice in the matter. But YOUR DOG is controlled (most of the time) by YOU! Why take the chance?
Please - Do not take your dogs onto the beaches of Truesdale Lake.
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Also: If you walk your dog or dogs around our lake, please read this previously posted article by a local vet.
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