Discouraging, isn’t it, that we didn’t even get to the Victoria Day long weekend this year before off-leash dog issues arose in our valley.
On May 5, a charge was laid against the owner of an off-leash Great Dane involved in an encounter with a black bear in Banff and now, albeit on the Icefields Parkway, a black bear has killed a dog that was off-leash after jumping out of a window when its owner stopped on the road to view a bear.
The parkway incident was tragic for the owner, of course, but certainly could have been much worse in that the owner attempted to wrestle with the bear to free his dog. We’ll give credit where credit is due to the owner of this dog because he is not calling for the destruction of this bear.
Still, in trying to wrestle this bear, the situation could have quickly escalated to an even greater tragedy. No wildlife manager would suggest this course of action in regard to a human/bear incident.
A recent incident in Banff, where a bear closely approached a dog on leash, helps illustrate the fact that dogs and bears simply don’t mix and that extra caution must be taken in bear country (which is everywhere in the Bow Valley).
We’ll point out again that, in this valley, bears can appear anywhere; grizzly or black bears. As time has shown, bears may be found in the farthest reaches of the mountain parks, or just around the corner in one of our towns.
Trouble is, people with their dogs off-leash can be found pretty much in all those same areas, meaning a bear/dog incident is always imminent.
And we haven’t even got to the point where buffaloberries begin ripening up. These berries are prime bear fodder and, due to a preference for sunny locations, they can often be found right along the same trails people with off-leash dogs favour.
Again, trouble is, likely too few people are being busted for having their dogs off-leash. In March, at least, a Calgary man was fined $350 for allowing his dog to chase a collared grizzly and her cubs in K-Country. More substantial fines than that have been leveled after incidents in the national parks, but ideally, far more enforcement is likely needed.
The issue has been going on for years, though, so we’re going to assume that, for the most part, education in regard in how to behave in bear country is not the problem.
Sure, there will still be those who are unfamiliar with issues created by having off-leash dogs in bear country. But the big problem, it seems clear, is the attitude of entitlement that allows dog owners to disregard bear country rules (even if it puts the safety of thier dog and their own safety at risk) in favour of their own wants.
People want to walk their dogs off-leash where they please, and so they shall. For those people, only stepped up enforcement, and possibly increasingly large fines, will likely have any effect.
Time for board pay
Kudos to Banff council for voting to provide members of the municipal planning comission and development appeal board with an honorarium.
Nobody will comfortably retire on these earnings, but being that development issues are intricate by nature and have widespread effects in town, we feel these dollars are due for members who must put in a great deal of time when weighing outcomes.
One can only imagine the time it takes to plow through reams of material related to developments in Banff and the fact that volunteers have taken on these valuable roles shows their commitment to their community.
