NORTH FREMANTLE residents are ringing alarm bells over the City of Fremantle’s chemical use at Gilbert Fraser Reserve after scores of dogs fell sick.
About a dozen canines have reportedly fallen ill with symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea and dehydration after visiting Gilbert Fraser Reserve, the suburbs “safest” off-leash dog zone.
North Fremantle resident Christine Parfitt’s dog, Margaret, became sick between May 25 – 26 and after enduring 24 hours of vomiting and nausea she ended up at the vet.
Initially assuming “Maggie” had tucked into a blowfish on one of their Leighton Beach walks, Ms Parfitt soon wrote that suspicion off when she heard other dogs had fallen sick with similar symptoms around the same time.
Louise Hothouse said seeing her whippet become so unwell was “very scary”. Photo by Isla Tomlinson“A friend’s dog got really sick and they were worried – and then I heard about this old dog nearly dying… that’s three in a week – that’s not right,” Ms Parfitt said.
The link between these three dogs was that they had all recently fallen ill after visiting Gilbert Fraser Reserve.
Investigating further, Ms Parfitt turned to the local Facebook community page asking if any other regular walkers on Gilbert Fraser Reserve experienced illness in their dogs.
A dozen other dog owners responded with similar stories to Maggie’s.
When Carolyn Bailey’s dog fell ill after a walk at Gilbert Fraser, she decided to reach out for help and guidance.
She said she had searched up what to do when a dog becomes sick on council owned land. It directed her to phone the ranger.
“They said it was not part of their job description,” Ms Bailey said.
“They only deal with someone who is having a problem with a dog. Not a sick one.”
Ms Bailey was directed to submit a complaint through the City of Fremantle’s customer portal but said none of the preset categories matched the issue she was trying to report.
“If you go onto the City of Fremantle there is no way to report that your dog is sick.
“Everybody was so upset that all their dogs where sick and nobody from the City of Fremantle payed attention,” Ms Bailey said.
Raking in a $450 vet bill was North Fremantle resident Louise Holthouse whose whippet couldn’t eat or drink and had to resort to being drip fed liquid.
Ms Holthouse said after reading other people’s stories in the comments, those affected began to piece together a possible link: the oval had recently been sprayed with herbicides and a pile of long grass clippings had been left behind — an area that almost all of the dogs had visited. She said many believed this was the most likely cause of the illnesses.
“A lot of the dogs including ours went over and were sniffing around and eating bits and pieces from the lawn clippings,” Ms Holthouse said.
“What we’ve realised is that it was probably a concentration of the chemicals that were sprayed on the oval that ended up in the lawn clipping pile.
“I think that leaving the pile of clippings which was a concentrated accumulation of the chemicals in there which the dogs were getting into was clearly quite potent and harmful,” Ms Holthouse said.
One local went as far to get blood tests done of her dog with the results coming back indicating a bacterial infection which the vet suggested was from consuming something toxic.
“A friend’s dog got really sick and they were worried – and then I heard about this old dog nearly dying… that’s three in a week – that’s not right,” Ms Parfitt said.
The link between these three dogs was that they had all recently fallen ill after visiting Gilbert Fraser Reserve.
Investigating further, Ms Parfitt turned to the local Facebook community page asking if any other regular walkers on Gilbert Fraser Reserve experienced illness in their dogs.
A dozen other dog owners responded with similar stories to Maggie’s.
When Carolyn Bailey’s dog fell ill after a walk at Gilbert Fraser, she decided to reach out for help and guidance.
She said she had searched up what to do when a dog becomes sick on council owned land. It directed her to phone the ranger.
“They said it was not part of their job description,” Ms Bailey said.
“They only deal with someone who is having a problem with a dog. Not a sick one.”
Ms Bailey was directed to submit a complaint through the City of Fremantle’s customer portal but said none of the preset categories matched the issue she was trying to report.
“If you go onto the City of Fremantle there is no way to report that your dog is sick.
“Everybody was so upset that all their dogs where sick and nobody from the City of Fremantle payed attention,” Ms Bailey said.
Raking in a $450 vet bill was North Fremantle resident Louise Holthouse whose whippet couldn’t eat or drink and had to resort to being drip fed liquid.
Ms Holthouse said after reading other people’s stories in the comments, those affected began to piece together a possible link: the oval had recently been sprayed with herbicides and a pile of long grass clippings had been left behind — an area that almost all of the dogs had visited.
She said many believed this was the most likely cause of the illnesses.
“A lot of the dogs including ours went over and were sniffing around and eating bits and pieces from the lawn clippings,” Ms Holthouse said.
“What we’ve realised is that it was probably a concentration of the chemicals that were sprayed on the oval that ended up in the lawn clipping pile.
“I think that leaving the pile of clippings which was a concentrated accumulation of the chemicals in there which the dogs were getting into was clearly quite potent and harmful,” Ms Holthouse said.
One local went as far to get blood tests done of her dog with the results coming back indicating a bacterial infection which the vet suggested was from consuming something toxic.
Although the cause of illness remains as a suspicion, residents think it was either an over pour of chemicals on the Reserve or something bacterial that had grown in grass clipping.
Curtin University associate professor in ecology Bill Bateman has researched environmental impacts on dogs and said while he was not a vet, high amounts of glyphosate can be toxic to anyone.
“Dogs can become sick from coming in to close contact with glyphosate, but it usually dries into the soil and then stops becoming toxic within less than 24 hours,” Prof Bateman said.
“Glyphosate will cause drooling. So that’s one of the things that you’ll see – the dog will be drooling. And it’s drooling for the same reason that we sometimes salivate before we’re sick.
“[Glyphosate] is safe if you follow the instructions on the back of the packet… it’s regarded as, and I have to say again, caveats, relatively harmless,” Prof Bateman said.
Prof Bateman said the dogs could have also likely have become unwell from the wet grass clippings which might have harboured fungus.
“Wet grass clippings do produce and do become homes to fungus. And it’s not necessarily the fungus; it’s the fungal spores.
“So that’s an irritant of the mucous membranes in the throat and the lungs. A bit like breathing in smoke. It’ll cause coughing and drooling as well,” Prof Bateman said.
“We’re usually warned that if we have big piles of wet grass and when we’re trying to turn them over to dry them, we should be wearing masks because these are hotbeds of fungal growth.
The Herald reached out to the City of Fremantle and asked what exactly was sprayed and when and where.
They City said said it used a “range of products to maintain the health, safety and compliance of sporting field surfaces”.
“Our records for May show a standard maintenance program for Gilbert Fraser Reserve that includes the application of pesticide and fertiliser, as well as regular mowing services.”
The City said all applications of these chemicals were “carried out in accordance with regulations and only approved products suitable for use in public environments are used”.
All affected dogs in this article have since recovered.
by ISLA TOMLINSON