HUNTINGTON BEACH Pet owners and dog lovers are being asked to step up to save the last remaining stretch of beach in Orange County where dogs can run leash-free.

Officials with the nonprofit that runs Huntington Dog Beach say they are facing bankruptcy because donations this summer have dropped dramatically and funds are running low.

Click here to view video of dogs running around Dog Beach.

“This year it seems to be harder to get people to donate compared to recent years,” said TJ Daly, president of the Preservation Society of Huntington Dog Beach. “Many people don’t know it’s a nonprofit that runs the beach.”

An estimated 2 million dogs visit Dog Beach every year. Dog Fancy Magazine in 2009 named Surf City ‘Dog Town USA,’ in part because of the beach.

On any given day, canines can be found bounding in the surf, chasing balls and socializing with other pets.

If the nonprofit folds, Daly said, the beach that runs from Goldenwest Street to Seapoint Street would be turned over to the city. And that could be a problem with city budget constraints, he said.

But city officials said there has been no talk about shutting down the beach if the nonprofit can’t pay the maintenance and doggie bag costs.

“There’s no intention to close Dog Beach and I don’t see that happening in the future,” said city spokeswoman Laurie Frymire.

Councilman Joe Carchio said if the city took over, they’d find a way to make it work.

“I would never be receptive to anything that would eliminate Dog Beach,” Carchio said. “That would be absolutely crazy to do that.”

Daly said it costs about $10,000 a month to run Dog Beach. This goes to pay for doggie bags, fliers, office and printing expenses and insurance, among other costs.

The nonprofit has struggled in years past but has always found a way to get its funding.

In 2010, the Preservation Society won $50,000 from a Facebook contest hosted by Chase Bank, but Daly said that money has been spent.

“(Bankruptcy) has come close to happening before,” he said. “(The contest) bailed us out and kept us going for a while.”

Daly hopes to get the word out and increase annual membership and possibly secure corporate sponsors to give the nonprofit a boost.

Huntington Dog Beach has been recognized nationally for its dog-friendly sand. It is the only place in the county that allows dogs to run free on the beach.

Newport Beach, Balboa and Corona del Mar State Beach allow dogs on their sand but only before 10 a.m. and after 4:30 p.m., and all dogs must be on a leash.

Laguna Beach allows leashed dogs on city beaches from September through May and during the summer before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.

Santa Ana residents Grace Whaley, 22, and Anthony Etchegoyen, 23, bring their terrier mix, Prince, to Dog Beach at least once a week to let him run around.

“He likes the beach and he likes the water,” Whaley said as the dogs played on Friday morning. “There’s more room here.”

Huntington Beach resident Sue Green, 58, has been bringing her pets to Dog Beach every morning for 28 years.

“If it closed, we’d move,” she said. “We come here all the time. That would be horrible.”

But Green said she thinks it unlikely the beach would be shut down to dogs.

“I don’t think they’d actually close it,” she said. “They have threatened that four or five times in the past.”

To learn more about Dog Beach or to donate, visit dogbeach.org.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7953 or jfletcher@ocregister.com