Dear Editor,

I recently moved to the Greater Portland Area and it is certainly a beautiful area. I was particularly thrilled to find Willard Beach, which is a wonderful place for my 10-month-old son and my dog, Sydney. We have spent every morning there for the past week, rain or shine.

In this short time, I have met many people both dog owners and non dog owners who have been very friendly and kind. Therefore, I was surprised when I read about the bitter and unpleasant conflict over the access of dogs to the beach, especially when it involves access for only 4 short hours each day (7-9 AM and 7-9 PM).

Both my wife and I are physicians and nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our son. He has been around Sydney his whole life and they have shared their fair share of hugs, kisses, toys, and yes, even food. As I was concerned about this, I have done extensive research concerning the zoonotic transmission of illness, in other words, can people get sickness and disease from dogs? While it is possible, the risk of this is minimal and probably nonexistent if dog owners clean up after their pets. And they certainly do. Just this morning, I saw several dog owners clearing trash from Willard Beach in addition to cleaning up after their pets.

Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I believe that access to a beautiful place like Willard Beach should be unrestricted and available for everyone, young and old, dog lover and non dog owners. It would certainly be unfortunate if a small, but vocal, minority felt that they had more rights to the beach than I or my family (including Sydney) just because they are wealthy enough to live on the beachfront.

I was saddened to hear that there will be a referendum this November that may ban dogs from the beach during the summer all together. I hope that your readers, and in particular the voters, realize that many of us consider our dogs to be members of our family and if you ban our dogs, you are also banning us. If my 10 month old son pees in the water while we are swimming, would you ban children also?

I hope that the city council of South Portland and the voters will think carefully and vote NO on the referendum this November so everyone can continue to share the waterfront.

Sincerely,

Rahul Banerjee, MD