Townsville City Council advises dog owners to avoid Pallarenda Dog Beach

Townsville City Council are advising dog owners to avoid Pallarenda Dog Beach as they continue to conduct investigations into the cause of death of three dogs recently.

Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney. Picture: Supplied

Townsville City Council have been investigating what they believe is the cause of the tragic deaths of three dogs linked to Pallarenda Dog Beach.

The three dogs passed away from acute liver and kidney failure after ingesting a toxin, prompting a warning from vets on social media.

The Council’s environmental and regulatory services had been looking at two types of toxins - one is a naturally occurring toxin in mouldy coconuts and the second is blue green algae.

Now, they believe they’ve narrowed it down to one culprit.

“We don’t believe it’s the blue green algae,” said Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney.

“So for dogs walking along the beach and may eat a coconut husk or something like that, that may be the cause of your animal getting sick.”

Cr Greaney said she believed there may be links between the dessicated, mouldy cocounts and the flooding event that happened at the start of the year.

Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said the cause of the toxins in the mouldy coconuts may be from the flooding event at the start of the year. Picture: Supplied

“Talking with the Mayor of Hinchinbrook recently and he’s been saying they haven’t even been able to get into their fields because of the water underneath,” she said.

“The recovery of events like that rainfall we saw earlier in the year, is a marathon not a sprint, so we are seeing things that are happening now that may have been caused by the monsoon.”

Managing Director of NQ Care, Dr Taela Hompas, who treated the three dogs, said their own investigation pointed to a an athlatoxin, which is commonly found in decaying vegetation.
“The assumption that we’ve made is due to playing with those old coconuts, so those coconuts might have had some of this toxin within them and the dogs have ingested that while they were playing with it,” Dr Hompas said.

The Council will continue to monitor Pallarenda Dog Beach and are advising dog owners not to take their dogs along that beach until the matter is resolved.

“There might also be some water laying around that might have some toxins in it from previous flooding events and a bit of rain,” Cr Greaney said.

People will be informed on when it will be safe to take their dogs back to the beach when the Council has finished their investigative work and they feel it’s safe to go back.

Cr Greaney is unsure if any further work will include the removal of mouldy coconuts from the beach.

“We have some community consultation out at Pallarenda this Saturday morning, so I’m sure it will be raised by some of the residents,” she said.

“We’re talking about erosion management along that section of the beach.”

If you have walked your dogs along Pallarenda Dog Beach recently and they do get sick, seek medical attention immediately.

Originally published as Townsville City Council advises dog owners to avoid Pallarenda Dog Beach