Border Collies could help chase gulls away from recreational beaches.
Gull excrement can carry E. coli bacteria, which can get into water used for recreational swimming, an American Society for Microbiology news release reported.
Researchers assigned sections of beach to either have a gull-chasing dog present or not. Halfway through the summer the beaches were swapped, and the working dogs were moved to the beaches that had not been treated before.
Over the course of the summer the researchers recorded the number of gulls present at each section of the beach. They also took samples of the beach water to test it for E. coli. once a week. The team compared the samples taken from the dog-treated beach with those taken from the control beaches.
"Border collies are intelligent dogs that love to work and could be used by beach managers as part of a comprehensive management strategy to reduce bacterial contamination at public beaches," Elizabeth Alm, one of the researchers on the study, said in the news release.
E. coli normally lives in the intestines of healthy people and animals; most strains are harmless but a few can cause serious illness.
Symptoms of E. coli infections include diarrhea that can be either watery or bloody, "Abdominal cramping, pain or tenderness," and nausea or vomiting, Mayo Clinic reported.
Most healthy people recover from an E. coli infection within one week, but more vulnerable patients such as children and the elderly can develop serious complications. These individuals are at risk of a deadly form of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
"The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide," the news release reported.
