Editor:
The recent letter by Greg Killin and Josee Richard illustrates the ignorance about wildlife and ecology and the contempt for fellow citizens that I find to be typical of leash-law offenders.
Killin and Richard claim that responsible dog owners do not let their animals off leash if there is wildlife in the vicinity. When, might I ask, is there not wildlife in the vicinity? There are large mammals everywhere, both in and around the Banff townsite. But even if there weren’t, what about the small mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians all around us? Or is it okay to molest these animals?
Don’t they think a dog “playing” off leash but under the “control” of its owner is a threat to wildlife? Think again. Authors of numerous wildlife disturbance studies have concluded that loose dogs, dogs with people, and even dogs on leash provoked the most pronounced disturbance reactions from their study animals.
Disturbance by dogs may result in physiological stress, energy wastage, lost foraging time, reproductive failure, and habitat abandonment, all of which may have more serious implications for wildlife populations than the attacks that make newspaper headlines.
Furthermore, dogs are very effective disease vectors for wolves. Parvovirus is believed to have been transmitted to a number of wolf populations in the U.S. by dogs. Dogs may also transmit distemper, rabies, plague, and leptospirosis, as well as a variety of ecto- and endoparasites to wildlife populations.
For example, dog feces have been implicated in the transmission of muscle cysts, which can infect a variety of ungulate species including elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer.
Not surprisingly, Killin and Richard appear to be oblivious to the other big reason why we have leash laws and enforcement of those laws: to protect people. Many people, including many small children, are uncomfortable or even terrified by the sight of a large carnivore bounding toward them, and they have every reason to be.
Many people also resent having the serenity they came to Banff National Park for demolished when someone’s hyperactive dog comes barrelling onto the scene. Unfortunately, these feelings are lost on many dog owners, who apparently live in a world in which dogs are people.
Killin and Richard lament having to burn fossil fuels to drive to an off-leash area in Canmore. Yet they have only themselves to blame. Anyone living in Banff and wanting to own a dog knows what the deal is. Let’s be quite clear about this: no one is forced to live in Banff National Park or own a dog.
But in the interest of seeing this tiresome issue evolve, I would like to suggest that we give these people their fenced off-leash area. But remember, those of us who have been confronting thoughtless dog owners for decades, who have heard every excuse in the book from them, and who have been subject to their verbal abuse hold no illusions about such an area being the solution to Banff’s rampant off-leash problem.
It should, however, justify the town in raising fines for off-leash offences to a point that’s actually effective in substantially reducing the number of them.
In the meantime, I will continue to document and report leash-law offences.
Jason Rogers,
Banff
