Editor:
Robert Liggat’s Aug. 13 letter was perfect, especially after recent incidents (deja vu) where bears charged off-leash dogs.
Like the Lorax who “speaks for the trees,” I too try in vain to take up the off- leash cause. Creating awareness is over as I rarely meet someone who isn’t genuinely aware of off-leash laws. Sometimes people thank me for saving them the $115 fine while reducing the potential for wildlife encounters.
Contrastingly, a burly fellow recently mocked me for asking him to leash up at Rawson Lake. He snidely told me there “aren’t any bears here.” A grizzly sow and cub above the lake earlier that day apparently wasn’t close enough. He further justified his behaviour by accusing me of lying about the bears.
Coincidentally, that same afternoon, a large grizzly bluff charged a hiker with an off-leash dog on the Upper Lake loop near the turnoff to Rawson Lake Trail. Ignorance is truly bliss for some.
Given the choice between an off-leash confrontation with me, a grizzly, or a ticket wielding conservation officer, you must admit that a reminder to leash-up from a stranger is a pretty good option.
Most people crank up the rudeness and pretend the backcountry is their own private backyard where I am an intruder, imposing arbitrary rules. The remainder of the exchange usually ends with unintelligent four-letter insults or a threat that I should report them to the authorities.
Right, I’ll use a satellite phone and within minutes helicopters will drop officers from the sky to collect $115 in ticket revenue? It reminds me of children getting called on bad behaviour and then whining, “You’re not the boss of me!”
Kananaskis Country is 4,000 square kilometers with a staggering length of named and unnamed trails. Do we want to live and play in a nanny state where our taxes jump to deploy hundreds of additional conservation officers in all corners of the backcountry to hand-slap thousands of irresponsible people blatantly flaunting a simple law intended to protect themselves and the wilderness they are in?
Common sense, not fines, should be the motivation for compliance. Save the valiant efforts of the COs for the big stuff. The key word is responsibility; grow up and leash up.
If I tossed garbage on a trail, people would publicly shame me as a litterbug. If I poached an elk, I would be an outcast and a criminal. However, when people incrementally intimidate wildlife with off-leash pets, the damage is indirect.
Irresponsible pet owners are blind to the cause and effect relationship by their own selfish need to prance their furry friends in the forest without leashes.
Imagine your urban dog runs ahead after smelling a new creature and gets into a defensive attack from a bear. After checking your undies for results, you quickly move on to get out of harm’s way.
The bear is really agitated and is still relatively close to the trail ... and then along I come five minutes later with my three-year-old daughter, unaware of this potential crisis initiated by your irresponsible behaviour.
The bear hears voices and thinks you and your pet have doubled back. Maybe this second time it won’t be a bluff charge. Maybe the bear will pick the small one first because a few minutes earlier it was the small, annoying one that barked.
Would you ever know or admit to the unintended consequences of your actions? Why take the risk?
I assure you I do not simply have a hate on for dogs. A few years back, a couple stopped in K-Country while taking a shortcut on Highway 40 en route to a wedding.
A dog being transported for friends bolted just as they were leashing him up, the door barely cracked. It was a genuine accident that he escaped and their dress clothes and fancy shoes had no place in the backcountry.
Sure, we could have driven away, but who needs a cougar with a taste for retrievers? What if a moment of ambivalence led to another senseless death?
I took it upon myself to protect the wilderness and the dog from each other. The trail he ran toward dead-ends in a cirque so I made chase and caught up with the exhausted dog about four kilometres up. I fashioned a rope leash of my own and hiked the dog back to the couple who couldn’t believe strangers would go to such lengths.
I did it out of respect for the backcountry and because that dog deserved better. I treat the backcountry with an almost religious level of respect. Once we put the sanctity of the wilderness at the forefront, we will see that putting the needs of wildlife, others, our children, our pets, etc. all before our own personal needs will result in a safer, more respectful relationship with the backcountry we are all trying to share.
Responsible pet owners, whom I sincerely thank for leading by example, have taught their animals that a leash is mandatory backcountry equipment. Their dogs are completely content with the arrangement, just as any well trained dog would be.
I am really looking forward to the day when leashes in the backcountry are as ubiquitous as seatbelts in cars. Happy trails to all.
Darin Langhorst, Canmore
