Beaches free from microbes brought by seagulls. Goodbye drastic solutions. Dogs are enough
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
If you have just returned from the holidays to the sea and you have quarreled with the neighbor of an umbrella for the simple fact of having brought your loved one with you Fido, the news is one of those to be marked. A new study made by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that i dogs in reality they would clean the beaches of microbes.
Led by Reagan Reed Converse, EPA's environmental microbiologist in Chapel Hill, scientists have shown that the presence of dogs at the sea keeps the seagulls away from the beach avoiding that their excrements, rich in microbes, can dirty the sand and the sea.
Seagulls are among the animals dirtier since they also feed by rummaging through the garbage. Experts found Escherichia coli and Enterococcus in their faeces, which can cause various diseases. How then to remove them in a 'natural' way, pushing them to hunt in the sea, to the full advantage of their own too health? Simply bringing the dogs.
In the past, researchers from the US Department of Agriculture had used unorthodox methods to try to reduce seagull populations on beaches "oiling”Their nests, that is, by sprinkling oil on the eggs.
Avoiding harming them, new EPA research first collected water samples on the beach for the first 11 days of August 2011 to get an initial bacterial count. Then the experts gave free exit to a pack of dogs in North Beach, after eliminating all other sources of pollution, such as the run-off of the wastewater, leaving seagulls as the primary source of contaminants in the water.
From subsequent analyzes, it emerged that i dogs they had had a significant impact on reducing bacteria and pollution. The research team analyzed the samples in the laboratory by measuring the concentrations of E. coli, Enterococcus, and other contaminants, detecting the presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter (which includes a C. jejuni species, which causes gastroenteritis) before the arrival of the dogs. After 9 days of their arrival, the pathogenic bacteria, especially theE.Coli and Enterococcus decreased by 29% and 38%, respectively.
Everyone happy? Maybe a little less seagulls.
The study was disclosed on Environmental Science & Technology.
Francesca Mancuso
