Ontario Parks To Prohibit Dogs
June 29, 2018
Some conservation areas in Ontario are considering banning pets from their parks and trails because too many dog owners refuse to follow the rules.
A couple of years ago Quinte Conservation closed down Potter’s Creek (346 acres of wetland in Belleville) to all dogs and are considering enforcing the same law upon all of their conservation areas.
The problem lies with dog owners letting their pets off leash to roam around the precious wetland and meadows, disturbing and destructing the natural wildlife.
I see this all the time when I’m out walking the dogs, people who let their pets off leash even though the signs say otherwise. Because they think their dogs are well-behaved off leash, they somehow believe they have a right to be free. In fact, they are proud of the fact and pay little regard to their surroundings.
Once when walking in Sherwood Park in Toronto, I saw a dog who was off leash destroy a whole nest of ducklings before running off with the mother duck in his jaws. It was very disturbing.
Dogs who are off leash could also encounter wildlife that is not so friendly like a coyote or a skunk.
Another problem with letting your dogs off leash is you can’t keep an eye on them to see when they poop. You need to pick up after your pet even along the great nature trails. If someone doesn’t step in it, then another animal could eat it and get seriously ill.
Quinte Conservation have received such a large number of complaints from hikers about pet owners disrespecting the parks that they have no other choice but to restrict access. General Manager, Ted Murphy told the Belleville Intelligencer:
“We don’t want to, but it has come to the point where we are seriously considering prohibiting pets from all of our conservation areas.”
Some dog owners will pick up after their pets but without easy access to a garbage can, they will drop the poop bags along the nature trails, polluting the parks and creating a health hazard to other animals and wildlife. It truly is most disrespectful and quite disheartening.
It’s not just the Quinte area in Ontario that suffers from irresponsible dog owners. Just take a walk down any street in your city and you’ll be sure to see dog excrement and discarded poop bags along the way. And don’t get me started on dog owners who let their pets urinate all over people’s shrubs and flowers. Really? No wonder so many people resent dogs and dog owners.
Let’s put a stop to this and prevent our parks from being off limits to dogs.
Photo credit by Drriss & Marrionn - Scoop the Poop