Protect our Wildlfe co-ordinators Daphne Wells and Jill McInnes, both of Ocean View, spoke at a Saddle Hill Community Board meeting last month about their frustrations about conflicting information on Dunedin City Council and Department of Conservation (Doc) signs, giving different information on expectations placed on dog owners regarding the control of their pets.
The group also wanted the council to change a bylaw so dogs were banned from the beach between the car park at Ocean View Recreation Reserve and the north end of Brighton Domain.
Last week, council staff - compliance solutions manager Ros MacGill, compliance, animal and parking services team leader Peter Hanlin and animal services officer Tony Newman - met the two women at Ocean View Beach.
Board member Peter Gouverneur and Doc representative Craig Wilson also attended the meeting.
Ms MacGill said the council had agreed to replace two signs with bigger ones at the car parks on either end of the beach and install three new signs at different access points to the beach.
An option of installing a sign on a large rock on the beach was discussed, but the group agreed to wait and see what effect the improved signage had first, she said.
The dog ban area was also discussed, she said.
"Any changes to the existing area would have to be considered as part of a review of the Dog Control Bylaw, and that is two to three years away.''
SHAWN.MCAVINUE @thestar.co.nz
Comments
This is terrible. Dunedin is getting a reputation for being a very dog unfriendly place. It is time residents of Dunedin started to realise the value of dogs and support their part in society. We will always have problems with poor dog control whilst ever dogs and their owners are more and more marginalised. NZ has a poor record in dog training and control, DoC continues to advocate outdated methods of dog 'training' banned in civilised countries. Time to move on, join the 21st century and celebrate the immense value of dogs in our society.
So, who is this "group"? Two people? Since when did they own "their" beach? The rules as they stand are absolutely fine - the problem is lack of enforcement. Stop trying to punish good people for the trangressions of a tiny minority. Injuries and fatalities to coastal wildlife by dogs are very uncommon, and compared to the losses caused by pollution, over-fishing, habitat destruction, human interference, and shipping activity are almost non-existent. When these ladies avoid all consumption of marine resources and plastic waste, stay off the beach to give the wildlife peace and quiet, avoid all products brought to them via shipping, and knock down their houses to give the habitat back to wildlife, then they can start pointing fingers at other people.
Can we talk about banning signs on the beach? They are unsightly and a menace to responsible dog owners who just want to take their pets somewhere for a nice walk.
dog owners need to realise that a lot of these beaches are incredibly sensitive areas in terms of wildlife and that that automatically takes priority over the desire to walk your pet in a particular place.