Editor:
With regard to Renae Elliott’s letter in the Feb. 16 issue of the Outlook.
I honestly wish after two decades I did not feel compelled to write (yet another) letter to the editor regarding this (what should easily be) enforceable issue.
In my 22 years of living within our Rocky Mountain National Parks system this situation has made little progression. Is this really rocket science?
The only people I see with their dogs regularly on leashes are our visitors… due to the fact that where they live the bylaws (most likely) are strictly enforced.
I would bet the amount of an insignificant monetary penalty of a (scarcely handed out) off leash fine, that the (perpetrators) were residents of B.N.P.
It has been my experience since Day1 that 90 per cent of the offenders of Parks Canada’s domestic animal regulations are employees of the agency and/or residents. The problem is rampant in the summer months while trying to enjoy our great outdoors. I constantly come across unleashed dogs on our hiking trails and on more than one occasion have witnessed “oh, not my dog” chasing (and in one incident, injuring) wildlife through the bush.
As quoted to me years ago by a Banff law enforcement officer (who incidentally was a dog owner himself)… “Dog owners are the worst people in the world to deal with.”
Why is that? And why is it not dealt with more aggressively? People such as this will always weigh the breaking of laws/regulations with the enforcement level of a (monetary) consequence and behave accordingly. That is why there has been no positive forward moving action on this issue from delinquent pet owners.
There are no consequences. A short finger-waving lecture (if even given) by a warden on appropriate behaviour is immediately shrugged off by those that have absolutely no regard for anyone or anything else.
I recently visited a resort town in the U.S. that is bordered by national forests. One’s first impression is wow… these people really care about visitor and resident experience. All laws were strictly enforced. No finger-waving there. I’m sure they got tired of finger-waving a long time ago and realized you can only educate a select few that are willing to be educated. The rest need a good hit to their pocketbook in order to comply.
These newspaper articles and letters to the editor have become more prevalent over the years because more people are being directly impacted by the delinquency of others and have had enough.
Until the Agency decides to employ its own authority and wherewithal to finally make a difference with compliance and enforcement in our national parks, (unfortunately) expect the same old ‘business as usual’ attitude. This issue is just another symptom of a much larger problem we have within ‘the unenforced system’ as a whole.
Renae, I feel your pain as I spent some years guiding in YNP on horseback and an off leash dog/horse confrontation can turn ugly in seconds and is a very high-risk situation for untrained visitors on horses to say the least.
We, as stewards living within our special places, should be the ones to set the example, not be the example of how not to behave. My solution… a significantly higher monetary penalty for all national park offences and strict compliance and enforcement by all... for all – from off leash offences to the stealing of priceless Burgess Shale fossils.
K. Gaffney,
Yoho National Park
