Kristina Chetcuti
We shall fight them on beaches
The government has banned us from enjoying sandy beaches with our dogs.
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.
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Emanuel Magrin
Jul 14th 2011, 01:32
@ HEALTH MINISTER JOSEPH CASSAR.
BEWARE MY FRIEND FOR ANIMALS HAVE A VOTE. YESSS OUR VOTES. 50,000 PLUS ANIMAL LOVERS WILL DEFINATELY RESPOND AGAIST SUCH A RACIST LAW IN THE NEXT COMING GENERAL ELECTION. NO ANIMAL RIGHTS, NO VOTE.
AND WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WITH SIGHT DISABILITY? ARE YOU GOING TO DEPRIVE THEM FROM GOING TO THE SHORES WITH THEIR ONLY HOPE TO NAVIGATE AROUND - THEIR DOG.
Emanuel Magrin
President
Saint Francis Foundation for Animals
www.saintfrancisfoundation.com
jan karl bondin
Jul 4th 2011, 23:36
dear mr spiteri
i agree whit most of what u said , u dont like dogs thats fine wih me i dont like priests for example i realy try to like them but i cant but i dont tell them not to come out of their convents ,if i dont like them i move away...and thats what you should do!! any way ... you talk as if the world you and us live in was only created for humans and other creatures are out of their place!! may i remind you that we r the ones that are taking over every corner and inch of our earth and makeing it ours!! who gives us the right to claim a place and say that aimals are not welcomed!! and it is not true what you said that if u walk along the front all you see is dog s...t. there are a lot of responsable dog owners who clean after there dog and there are laws to punish those who dont...,those people trow a bad light on the others,but its not up to us to enforce the law, or it could b a stray dog that that did his needs on the pavement!!! even pigions dirty every where so what we shoot them? birds the same , stray cats the same and so on and so forth... and by the way did u ever do pipi in the sea? if yes (whic probably you did , cos i did,) then shall we be baned from the beach?
people talk a lot but the problem is that they dont listen to what is comeing out of there mouth !!!!
Mr John Azzopoardi
Jul 3rd 2011, 14:56
I think dogs and people mix more than ever in public. However, you have many owners who don't put their dogs on a leash and these dogs can be dangerous. I have been to the beach many time and I am relaxing and loose dogs come running all over my area etc. etc. It's the same when people are walling dogs. there are dogs that are dangerous and their owner knows it but they lef them loose. At the end of the day, society has a right to protect the citizen. And dogs if they beaten or not treated right. But the two cannot have the same right. I
Albert Spiteri
Jul 3rd 2011, 12:56
OK - here's the deal. Many can't stand dogs. Many hate everything about them. Dogs are the most slavering, pathetic, vile & petty creatures on the face of the planet. Many don't get why everybody and their uncle wants to own one.
AND THAT INCLUDES ME! No matter how hard I try to like dogs, I just hate them again. They always come up to you and stick their snotty noses up against your clothes and skin, and then if they feel 'comfy' with you they cover you in drool with their big slimy tongues. WHAT'S EVEN WORSE AND ABSOLUTELY NAUSIATING IS FIRST THEY LICK UP THEIR PRIVATES, THEN TONGUE YOUR HANDS AND FACE!!
If a friend or acquaintance owns a dog, I'm always obliged to pet it, and then my hand smells like shnit until I go wash the oil/musk scent off. They go around peeing on everything they see, and I don't get it...everybody thinks it's so cute; like, 'awww, look at Woofie peeing on that guy's leg! Hahaha!"
Then there's the shivering little inbred ones that bark at everything that moves, at some high pitch and that damages your eardrums, and then you've got the ones that 'defend' their owners' 'territory' as you walk by minding your own business. Suddenly out of nowhere comes this AAAF!!! sound at 1000 decibels two feet from your ear, and it just keeps barking; this little monster hopping around wanting to come out and attack you, as if it's saying "fak you! fak you! fak you!" Honestly, I fail to see what's so special with this animal! Try walking across any sea front - from Marsaskala to Armier - dogs' shnit everywhere, so every time I walk across any pavement or sidewalk anywehre, I'm just worried about stepping in dog crap the whole time. And to hell with all the talk about plastic bags, and polite dogies. I sometimes wonder whether dog-lovers shake hands or smell each other's privies when they meet!
I try to like them, but I can't!!
Kevin Formosa
Jul 3rd 2011, 14:36
i really feel sorry for you..
Ms Sylvia Zammit
Jul 3rd 2011, 15:39
Sadly - Yes! We have really reached a point where dogs and people can no longer mix in public! We are no longer capable of responsibility on the one hand and tolerance on the other!
Albert Spiteri - it's high time you got a dog of your own - then you might understand why we make a fuss of them-and over them.
People who know me can hardly believe that I was once scared of dogs - but, until I was 8, I was terrified of them - even our own black poodle pup - that my family had to finally give away. Thankfully, 1 of my older sisters decided to help me face my fears - by borrowing an old dog , that, as luck would have it, had just got hit by a car. I remember feeling too sorry for the dog to fear it - and staying up late at night with her. By morning, she was gone - back to her owners - and I was left to pester my mum to get me my own dog. A year later, a stray puppy followed her home -and I got my first dog! I know you dislike them-not fear them-but only because you never got to know them.I have had work mates who'd tease me for loving dogs - until they got their own dog!
Albert Spiteri
Jul 4th 2011, 01:05
Kevin, you're the one that deserve the pity, especially when when you get a doggie lick and doggie crap all over your face. But maybe it's all true - one gets what one deserves, and you deserve dog crap all over your face.