Tootsie, my dog, bless her, hated the beach. She’d stand guard by the shoreline and whine and howl at us whenever we took a dip, and only when she’d be left with no company onshore would she take the plunge.
She’d swim out, reach us, nudge us, give us that reproving look which said, ‘Now see what you made me do – you come back this instant’ and then swim back with her fur pasted back to her face – which always gave her the look of a wet squirrel.
I think Toots would have applauded this brand new law which bars dogs from the beach, for it would have been her legal duty to stay in the cool comfort of home than be dragged by the family to the beach.
But she was clearly an exception. Most dogs love beaches and most dog-owners love having their dogs with them on outings by the sea. So I think there is something not quite right with this new law.
Fines for breaking the law range from €232 to €4,658 for a first offence. For a second offence, the maximum rises to €11,600. We are being told to keep our dogs off the ropes delineating swimmer zones and that domestic pets are not to be taken on sandy beaches at any time.
The Health Ministry said this is meant to keep in check the possibility of spreading diseases, mainly I presume, the dangers of toxocariasis, which in extreme cases can cause blindness.
But let’s face it, the reason behind it is, partly, because lots of people simply no longer see why we should have to put up with the foulness of the stuff in our immediate environment, not to mention on our shoes or, worse, our kids’ clothes. Amen to that. I am a strict believer that owners must ensure their pets are not a nuisance to other bathers and should clean any fouling.
Which is why I find this new law particularly odd. Why introduce yet another law when the existing one is far from being enforced properly? I have never seen wardens slapping fines on people who don’t pick up their dog poo on the beach.
This dog fouling business is a nasty problem in Malta and we need massive education campaigns about it. A friend of mine who works at a local council told me that some time ago they started supplying pick-up plastic bags for dog poo.
These plastic bags were apparently snatched up the minute they were placed in strategic boxes along the promenades. Yet, the dog mess issue did not improve: people were using the plastic bags to pack their kids’ school lunches.
Somewhere along the line, awareness that what your dog leaves behind, in areas used by the public, needs to be bagged and binned, has not sunk in. This dog poo odyssey can only be solved by harsher penalties or court fines.
Meanwhile, thanks to a small number of irresponsible owners who don’t clean up after their pets, dogs are being banned from beaches.
This is a big problem for anyone who owns a dog. Have the authorities taken into account that there are no meadows, no countryside and no vast parks to speak of in Malta? Where are dog owners meant to take their pets for walks?
And if the reason behind the law is because dogs can be a nuisance on the beach, how about fining portable stereo owners too?
Or why don’t the law enforcers pop down to Ġnejna this evening and fine the owners of mobile electricity generators to supply their makeshift kitchens? And what next after this? We’ll be told we can’t take kids to the beach because they can be a nuisance? Frankly it all smacks a bit of George Orwell’s 1984.
Our law-makers should simply go and get a life. I’m sure people who come up with these ideas haven’t been to beach in years because they are much too busy thinking up what next to ban.
They must be all transparently pale – the kind who smell of instant coffee, have dark circles under their eyes and yellowish tongues. Their parents probably never got them a pet when they were young, so we have to sympathise.
Archaeology tells us that dogs have been by man’s side, at least, since 30,000 BC. Yet we now seem to be reaching a point where dogs are slowly being excluded from society. Without realising it, we’re slowly pushing another animal out of the picture that is our life habitat.
Have we really reached a point where dogs and people can no longer mix in public? Are we no longer capable of responsibility on the one hand and tolerance on the other? I hope not.
krischetcuti@gmail.com