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Wardens investigate off-leash dog incidents

Off-leash dogs chased deer through the streets of Banff in two separate incidents over the holidays, landing a Banff woman in hospital in one case and chasing a deer into a moving car in the other.

Off-leash dogs chased deer through the streets of Banff in two separate incidents over the holidays, landing a Banff woman in hospital in one case and chasing a deer into a moving car in the other.

Parks wardens say the two incidents serve as a reminder about the rules mandating all dogs be on leashes at all times within the townsite and national park.

“It’s a reminder to dog owners to make sure they abide by the rules and it shows some of the more unintended consequences when dogs do run at large,” said Warden Steve Anderson.

On the evening of Dec. 27, a Banff resident was walking down an alley off the 500 block of Banff Avenue when a male deer with antlers fleeing from an off-leash dog ran into her.

The dog was reported as a yellow golden Labrador.

“The deer ran by her at close proximity as the dog was chasing it and one of the antlers hit the woman in the chin,” said Anderson. “That resulted in a visit to the hospital for her.”

On Dec. 31, a Banff resident was driving along Otter Street when an off-leash dog chased a deer through the Otter-Moose Street intersection and into the vehicle.

Anderson said the deer continued on up to Tunnel Mountain with the dog in pursuit, but the deer’s fate is unknown.

“The driver saw both the deer and dog and described the dog as a large collie-type dog,” he said.

Steve Michel, human-wildlife conflict specialist for Banff National Park, said he wants to remind dog owners that these situations can be very serious for both people and wildlife.

“She was lucky because there are situations like this every year in North America; where people come into contact with deer or elk antlers and they can sustain very serious life-threatening or even fatal injuries,” he said.

“It’s a good reminder to keep dogs on leash at all times so that they’re not harassing wildlife, and so that the wildlife being harassed don’t actually injure people as they’re fleeing.”

Michel said he also wants to remind people to take down their Christmas lights.

“Now that the holiday is coming to a close, it would be a good time for people to take down and clean up all Christmas lights in a variety of places that present entanglement hazards for wildlife in town,” he said.

Meanwhile, wardens are investigating the two off-leash dog incidents and encourage people to call them at 403-762-1470 or the Town of Banff bylaw office at 403-762-1218.

“The information is limited at the moment, but if people do have information we’d be happy to hear about it,” said Anderson.


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