Doggos will have more time to run free along Queens Beach North in Scarborough as the Moreton Bay Regional Council extended the off-leash trial up to the end of March 2019.
The off-leash trial on the stretch of Queens Beach North was supposed to have ended in October 2018. However, the trial was so popular among the locals that the council decided to extend it.
What will make fur parents happier is that the trial, this time around, will have no time restrictions, so their beloved pets will be free to play at the beach 24 hours a day. The initial trial only allowed the pooches to run off leash from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.
While pet lovers welcome the news, there are those who fear that allowing dogs to run freely 24 hours a day may eventually lead to someone getting bitten. Those who are not in favour of the 24-hour off-leash area fear that there is no safe time for families with young children at the beach.
Opposing locals started a petition on Change.org to ask the council to keep Queens Beach North dog free. They listed several reasons such as dogs harassing swimmers or dogs interfering with beach-goers’ belongings. They also complained that the beach does not have perimeter fencing, so some dog owners can’t easily control their dogs from leaving the beach area and interfering with cyclists and joggers on the footpath.
The council noted that there have been no untoward incidents reported during the trial, thus the continuation and the lifting of the time limit for the off-leash beach area.
