Mad Dogs And Pollensa Town Hall

Has Pollensa town hall taken leave of its senses? Its decision to designate two beaches in the town - Llenaire in Puerto Pollensa and Cala Carbó in Cala San Vicente - as beaches where pets (i.e. dogs) can be taken is idiotic. The scheme is due to take effect from next season, but the outcry against the decision has already started and is likely to grow louder.

Something needs to be made clear, because the subject of dogs can raise emotions and irrational reactions. Placing restrictions on dogs on beaches in the summer season - banning them, in other words - is not an example of being anti-dog. It is an example of common sense. Plenty of dog owners, dog lovers, appreciate why there are such bans. It has nothing to do with disliking dogs. It has everything to do with avoiding the possibility, however low this might be, of disease being transmitted or of there being an incident involving a dog.

When the possibility was first raised of a pilot scheme in Pollensa to allow dogs on beaches, it seemed ridiculous because the beach that was being spoken of was a strip of rustic beach to which no one goes. It was, nevertheless, a pilot scheme that was proposed because it was felt that the ban on dogs was too restrictive.

Rather than a pilot scheme, the town hall appears intent on going full steam ahead and promoting the beaches with the aid of local hotels. Cala Carbó is a small beach, Llenaire isn't; it was the beach that David Cameron chose during the summer. Though Llenaire is an urbanisation away from the centre of Puerto Pollensa, the name Llenaire beach is used interchangeably with the name Tamarells beach to refer to the resort's main beach.

Why has the town hall come to this decision? It says it is in response to an increased demand and to the fact that many visitors are pet owners and that they wish to go to a resort where they can take their pets (the decision does refer to pets, though it is hard to see which animals other than dogs it would really apply to). Previously, the town hall had also spoken about tourism of a certain "quality" which would be attracted to Puerto Pollensa were it to promote itself as pet-friendly.

I think the town hall is talking total garbage. Where exactly is the evidence for its claim that there is an increased demand by tourists to take their pets to beaches? And perhaps more importantly, where would these tourists be coming from? It is possible for, say, tourists from the UK to take pets on flights, but it is a hassle of a procedure and a potentially expensive one for a short vacation. Tourists who might wish to bring pets would be ones travelling by road or on ferries, and these tourists may well already be bringing their pets.

In a report of the town hall's decision, a reference has been made to a tour operator which specialises in tourist destinations for pets with which the town hall has been in contact since earlier this year. This is curious. The website of this "tour operator" makes no mention of tours. It is, or appears to be, a one-person, dog-loving website that offers advice on dogs in Mallorca and which has been advocating that dogs be allowed to be taken onto beaches. Approaches to this end have been made to a few town halls, Pollensa being one of them.

I am not disputing for one moment this website's right to advocate the taking of dogs onto beaches, its right to lobby for greater permissiveness where dogs are concerned or the sincerity behind the advocacy, but what I am questioning is the basis upon which the town hall has arrived at its decision. The implication of the report (which may of course not be entirely accurate) is that it has been the contact with this "tour operator", of which it is further said that it will start promoting Pollensa as a destination for pet owners. 

Something else which is curious is that there seems to have been no obvious opposition to the decision among town hall councillors. Are they all oblivious to the potential risks, among which would be one of tourists without dogs deciding they will go somewhere else?

Why were dogs ever banned from beaches in the first place? Not because people didn't like dogs but because of certain and legitimate worries, such as toxocariasis. Nothing has changed in this regard, so why adopt a measure that raises unnecessarily the possibility of risk and which is of highly questionable benefit?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.