SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. – For the first time in nearly 70 years, Satellite Beach had been exploring whether to allow dogs on the beach permanently during limited hours. Now, that decision is on hold.
On Wednesday, the Satellite Beach City Council voted unanimously to temporarily ban dogs from its beaches until the city’s sustainability board and recreation board can meet to discuss the issue.
The city manager said she will try to schedule that meeting for the end of May. No firm timeline has been set.
The council had rolled out a pilot program allowing dogs on the beach during limited hours — a test run before any permanent vote. But the program quickly surfaced a divide between dog owners and wildlife advocates.
Brevard County is a global hotspot for sea turtles and is home to thousands of nests each year. If dogs are approved on the beach permanently, wildlife advocates worry they will disrupt the nests.
“We’re going to have dogs every day, trafficking up and down, urinating. Their urine is full of nitrogen, urea, and ammonia,” that was Joel Cohen with the Sea Turtle Preservation Society.
Cohen and the Sea Turtle Preservation Society strongly oppose the change.
The rarest sea turtle in the world is the Kemp’s Ridley. It’s critically endangered. Satellite Beach is lucky enough to have one of their nests on it. There are about 100 eggs buried under the sand in the nesting site, and if disturbed the likelihood of those eggs surviving drastically decreases.
Despite concerns, others say they still want to see change.
“I think that there are areas that the turtles are not there that we can be more specific towards or same thing. Dogs are trainable,” said one beachgoer named Frances.
Others feel there may be a compromise.
“If we can at least restrict it during turtle season, that would help,” said Sadja Pals, a Satellite Beach resident.