What is it going to take for certain dog owners to learn the critical lesson to keep your pets on leash when you are recreating in the Bow Valley? Yet again we have another example, and a fairly gruesome one, of the effects off-leash dogs have on ani
What is it going to take for certain dog owners to learn the critical lesson to keep your pets on leash when you are recreating in the Bow Valley?
Yet again we have another example, and a fairly gruesome one, of the effects off-leash dogs have on animals. This time the victim is a male bighorn sheep that was very likely chased by an off-leash dog off a cliff.
That sheep left a trail of blood and was found with its reproductive organs missing - that’s right, we mentioned it was gruesome. It is not known exactly if the ram survived, but given the circumstances we find it highly unlikely.
The same week as senior park ecologist Melanie Percy is giving a talk about how dogs and wildlife can co-exist, it strikes us at RMO as apropos to take this opportunity to reiterate how important that is.
Because if we cannot co-exist in these wild spaces with our dogs, then it would be well within the authority of Alberta Parks to ban all dogs in provincial park areas. It has been considered, according to Percy, but isn’t a step that has been taken yet.
If dog owners, and we recognize not all of them are irresponsible, continue to let their pets run around affecting wildlife by chasing them, causing them stress and at times resulting in the wild animal’s death, we think it would be worth the effort to ban dogs in provincial parks.
A drastic measure, this may be the one and only way to get the point across. Enforcement and education are the fall back position for officials, but every year we have more incidents of this behaviour that cannot be ignored. It is a privilege to recreate in provincial parks like the Canmore Nordic Centre and if some pet owners are going to ignore the rules in place to protect wildlife, that privilege should be taken away from the four-legged friends.
Or here’s another draconian idea that can address the lack of learning on this issue by certain dog owners: perhaps the Town of Canmore should refuse to grant dog licences to those who have been repeatedly fined or caught with their dog off leash.
Conservation officers, under provincial regulation, are well within their right to destroy an off-leash dog they see harassing wildlife or destroying wildlife habitat.
At least one person in the audience also suggested using your handy bear spray, which you should carry at all times on the trails, to deal with off-leash dogs that are encountered. Seems a bit harsh, but are people getting the point yet?
Percy mentioned the importance of keeping dogs on leash at least a dozen times during her talk, and while the weather may have kept some people at home instead of at the speaker series, RMO would like to repeat it a few more times for your benefit.
We can co-exist on the landscape, but only when as humans we recognize our responsibility to be here with the wildlife. There is a whole array of behaviours we already routinely engage in to prevent conflict - you certainly don’t see many people leaving garbage out at the curbs anymore for example.
Like Percy said at the end of her talk, think about wildlife in our valley as being our neighbours and treat them respect by keeping your dogs on leash.
“I’m sure a lot of you feel as I do - not a day goes by that I don’t look around at this incredible place we live, and feel incredibly grateful for it, ” she said. “We need to start considering wildlife as community members and community members we need to protect, we need to safeguard and we need to be stewards of and show them that consideration. ”
