Better dog control signage urged
A shorebird advocate says highprofile signage needs to be installed urgently at a Golden Bay beach to make it clearer for dog owners where they are allowed to walk.
Cynthia McConville has been trying to get the Tasman District Council to put up signage at the Rototai beach reserve since April last year.
McConville, who is the shorebirds’ protection officer for Forest and Bird’s Golden Bay branch, said there was a ‘‘serious dog problem’’ at Rototai.
She said the problem had nothing to do with the dog owners but ‘‘everything to with the regulatory system’’ at the council.
The lack of any signage or markers meant dog owners were continually trespassing into prohibited areas where birds were trying to nest and raise their young, as well as rest and feed, she said.
Next to Farewell Spit, Rototai is the most important area for shorebirds in Golden Bay.
McConville said it was home to thousands of ground nesting birds, waders, shorebirds, migratory birds and seabirds, including Caspian terns, banded dotterels, godwits and South Island pied oystercatchers.
These birds all rely on undisturbed feeding, roosting and breeding sites.
McConville said she regularly encountered roaming dogs in prohibited areas and harassing wildlife.
The only signage at Rototai showing dog owners where they are allowed to walk their dogs was on a board at the entrance to the esplanade reserve.
However, it was poorly located and most people drove past it without noticing. There were no markers on the beach to indicate the boundaries designated in the bylaw.
She said it was ‘‘unfair’’ on dog owners who had no idea where they could go, or when they had gone beyond the boundaries.
As well as Rototai, McConville has been urging the Tasman District Council to install signage off Selwyn Street in Po¯ hara, and at the end of the golf course at Motupipi.
She said residents regularly walked their dogs down Po¯ hara beach and into the Motupipi Estuary, which joins Rototai Beach, and makes up a section of the dog prohibited area.
McConville said she was a dog owner and loved taking her dog to the beach.
‘‘I am definitely not anti dog.’’ In December, members of the local Forest and Bird branch made a presentation to the Golden Bay Community Board to have Rototai declared a wildlife reserve.
The board supported the proposal and requested a report from council staff.
Tasman District Council regulatory manager Adrian Humphries said the council had some signage produced at the start of the lockdown to warn owners that they must keep their dogs under control.
However, there was feedback from the interested parties in Golden Bay that they wished to have more educational signage, rather than just warning or enforcement.
‘‘I still intend to erect this signage when I have the chance,’’ he said.
Reserves staff were also looking into what they could provide.
Once the council had access to printers again, it intended to produce signage on dog control areas at Rototai.