Dogs told to take a hike
State authorities are encouraging beachgoers to leave their dogs at home during the shorebird nesting season of March through August, but some dog owners say that pooches are being unfairly targeted.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Steve Patterson of Brunswick when told of the state's suggestion that dogs be left at home to give nesting shorebirds a better chance of survival.
"If owners keep their dogs under control as they are supposed to, the dogs won't ... harm nesting birds," said Patterson, who has been bringing his boxer, Bogart, and mixed-breed dog, Blondie, to St. Simons Island's beaches for years.
While the two dogs occasionally chase birds, Patterson said they have never harmed a bird. He said he keeps them on leashes and out of the dunes where birds make their nests.
Brad Winn, program manager with the Coastal Nongame Endangered Wildlife Program of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division, doesn't see it as being that simple, though.
He said the mere presence of dogs can cause harm to seabird and shorebird species who nest on beaches such as the red knot, piping plover, whimbrel, black skimmer, American oystercatcher, brown pelican and royal tern.
"Humans and dogs on beaches can scare the birds away from their nests and bring the added threat of nests and young being trampled," Winn said.
"Dogs are prone to harass and kill the adult birds and the chicks."
State authorities have not passed any laws banning dogs from beaches. The only beaches in Georgia on which dogs are forbidden under state mandate are on Williamson Island, St. Catherines Island Bar, Little Egg Island Bar, Pelican Spit and Satilla River Marsh Island.
Bill Hamby, vacationing on St. Simons Island from his home in Roswell, is both a dog owner and birding enthusiast. He has no problem with some restrictions on when dogs are allowed on beaches during shorebird nesting season.
The bigger issue in his mind, though, is the importance of owners keeping their animals under control, he said.
He witnessed a scene earlier this week when an unleashed dog was harassing two birds on East Beach.
"It was early in the morning and a dog was chasing a great egret and a snowy egret," he said.
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