Dog walkers shock as palm oil washes up on beach in Deal

By Jasmine Rosser

A dog walker found suspected palm oil on Walmer beach near the Lifeboats last Thursday at 10am and reported it via Facebook.

Jon Stevens-Hall posted a picture to Deal Watch Rejects on Facebook to warn people with dogs to avoid this substance as it can be very dangerous and fatal if eaten.

Jon Stevens,40, Deal Kent said “I walked from Marine Road to the lifeboats along the strand line, and saw two or three lumps of what looked like palm oil. I only really knew it was likely this, based on news reports that I have seen warning dog owners. It certainly looked exactly like the news report photos and it was waxy and smelly.”

I emailed Dover District Council to see if they had looked into this incident.

Sue Carr who works for the environmental team at Dover District Council replied saying “I can confirm that the Council received a report of a ‘waxy substance’ on Kingsdown beach on 24 November 2016 and we alerted the public via our facebook page to keep dogs on a lead.   An investigation was carried out by HM Coastguard but the report could not be verified.”

This isn’t the first time that there has been a palm oil scare. There had been reports to Thanet Council via Twitter on the 25th of November last year, warning dog walkers about this report.

Two days later after the report, Thanet council searched the beaches and announced that they couldn’t find any trace of palm oil.