Beach muzzles are SA’s new dog trend as algal bloom continues to push dead fish onto shores
The state’s dog beaches have become graveyards as the big bad bloom lingers – but some owners are reclaiming the shores by strapping pets with a new accessory.
Dog owners have resorted to strapping anti-foraging muzzles or pricey custom-made devices on their pets to stop them eating the algal bloom-tainted fish piling up along South Australia’s beaches.
Among them is artist Cat Leonard, 59, who now puts the muzzle on her three-year-old labrador, John Pickle, while he roams off-leash on the beach.
She said dogs owned by two friends had eaten dead fish and “then they just collapsed after a walk”.
“I’ve seen dogs walking along and just vomit up fish on the beach,” Ms Leonard, of Marino, said.
“I saw this kelpie the other day that just chucked up a fish. Yuck.”
Ms Leonard said she would walk John Pickle every morning at the local beach before switching to two or three times a week when thousands of fish killed by the algal bloom started washing ashore.
“There used to be a whole culture – there were a lot of dog walkers,” she said.
“You’d see the same people every day and chat to them. It was really good.
“Now it’s kind of been disbanded. Some people aren’t walking at all on the beach.
“Some you still see, but it’s a lot more sporadic. Everyone’s pretty down about it, actually.
“It’s still peaceful and beautiful – it’s just a graveyard, that’s all.”
Ms Leonard said that as recently as Friday she saw “thousands of dead fish” on the beach at Marino.
“I saw fish I didn’t even know existed there,” she said.
“There were whiting, mullets, leatherjackets, tommy ruffs, crabs, eels, sea snakes, little sharks, zebrafish. It was unbelievable.”
Alexandra Ahlgrem, 53, said she had paid $440 plus about $100 for express shipping for two custom-made muzzles from a Canadian company, Mia’s Muzzles, for her dogs, Ronja and Mike Wazowski.
To make the perfect muzzles, the company required the South Brighton resident to send measurements of her dogs’ heads and noses, along with photos.
“For long-term use as a muzzle, and especially if you use it during exercise, they really need to be custom-designed to have all of that room for them to be able to pant,” Ms Ahlgrem said.
“These people with muzzles on their dogs where there is no space to pant, that really worries me going into summer.
“That’s the only way dogs can regulate their temperature is to pant.
“Dogs’ mouths really open up quite wide when they pant or when their tongues are hanging out.”
Ms Ahlgrem said she walked her dogs daily on the beach before stopping when the algal bloom crisis hit. She said that she was looking forward to getting back to the beach when the muzzles arrived.
A Department for Environment and Water spokeswoman said owners should keep their pets away from sick or dead fish and avoid letting them swim in discoloured water or foam.
Dog owners told The Advertiser in July that their pets had reacted to the algal bloom with bleeding from their gums, fits of sneezing and irritated eyes.
A spokesman for Wallaroo’s Seaside Vet Surgery in July said symptoms of algal poisoning in dogs included vomiting, diarrhoea, weakness, collapsing, seizures, excessive drooling and trouble breathing.
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Originally published as Beach muzzles are SA’s new dog trend as algal bloom continues to push dead fish onto shores
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