SPLASH PATROL
Updated: Aug 12
PAUSE BEFORE YOU SPLASH
COULD YOUR DOG'S FLEA AND TICK TREATMENT BE HARMING WILDLIFE?
This is a campaign launched by the North Wales Rivers Trust together with the Pant Glas Dog Activity Group in North Wales to draw attention to the harmful effects of flea and tick treatments
But something as ordinary as protecting your dog from fleas and ticks might be quietly harming the rivers they love. Most flea and tick treatments contain insecticides strong enough to kill insects, and few of us are ever told that. Worse, those chemicals don't stay on the pet. They wash into rivers through swimming, rain, muddy paws, bedding, drains, even dog waste, and they can stay active for a long time afterwards.
That's a problem because rivers run on insects. They're the foundation of the food web, feeding everything from salmon and trout to dippers, kingfishers, bats and otters. Introduce insecticides into a river and you're not just targeting fleas and ticks, you're putting the insect life that the whole ecosystem depends on at risk.
But - Helping protect our rivers and lakes can be as easy as just waiting a few days before letting your dogs go for the swim that they love. Just this simple action can help all the insects, birds and animals that can be affected by the forever chemicals found in flea and tick treatments.
Fipronil and imidacloprid, two of the most common insecticides in flea and tick treatments, have already been banned for agricultural use across the EU because of the damage they cause to the environment. Yet they're still widely used on pets. The chemicals don't know the difference between a flea and a mayfly.
That matters because rivers depend on insects to function. Mayflies, caddis flies and stoneflies sit at the base of the freshwater food web, feeding fish, birds, bats and mammals. When insecticides get into a river, they don't just kill the parasites they're aimed at, they threaten the wildlife that keeps the whole system alive.
The evidence is already there. Fipronil turns up in almost every English river tested, often at more than five times the level considered ecologically safe. It's also been found in fish, in river sediment, in coastal waters, and even in the nests of blue tits and great tits.
Everyone wants to protect their pets, and most people simply don't know these treatments can have consequences beyond the dog. Splash Patrol isn't asking you to stop protecting yours, it's asking you to help protect our rivers too.
Splash Patrol is a growing movement of dog owners, river lovers, anglers, paddleboarders, swimmers and families who believe we can make a difference together. Talk to your vet about the treatment that actually suits your dog's lifestyle, avoid letting recently treated dogs swim in rivers, always pick up after your dog, and help spread the word. Small changes like these add up to less insecticide reaching our waterways.
Rivers are already under enormous pressure from sewage, agricultural runoff, habitat loss and climate change. This is one source of pollution we can actually do something about.
If you want to learn more about the campaign, go to the North Wales Rivers Trust website at htpps://northwalesriverstrust.org/splashpatrol
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