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Re: Off-leash dogs on NPS property

From:

Michael Bowen

Reply-To:

Michael Bowen

Date:

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:01:39 -0400

Well, Steve Hersey and I seem to have unleashed a lot of emotions on 
the subject of unleashed dogs.  Maybe more than Norm would want to 
see on this list serv.

I have to agree with Bob Mumford that NPS seems to be very reluctant 
to enforce the leash law edicts.  Quite why, I do not fathom.  Just 
last week, I and others were chastised for being off the trail at a 
federal refuge in Virginia (in an area bushwhacked by giant machines 
the day before), while a couple with an unleashed dog were cavorting 
around even farther off the trail.  Maybe there exists a politically 
powerful dog owners group.

Mike Bowen
Bethesda

At 11:39 AM 10/28/2009 -0400, Bob Mumford wrote:
>When I moved to Darnestown eighteen years ago, I began walking the C&O
>canal towpath a couple of times a week. Very quickly I noticed that dogs were
>run off leash regularly. Some dogs walked quietly and obediently by their
>owners legs; others leaped into the canal, ran through the woods, or far
>ahead of their owners. Not liking what I was seeing, I wrote the head of
>the NPS asking why the law was not enforced.
>
>Shortly I received a letter back, signed by a high level official, saying
>that they "appreciated my interest in the C&O National Historical Park,
>blah, blah, blah, and that dog leash laws were "rigorously enforced."
>
>So I wrote back immediately asking how many citations and warnings had been
>  issued in the past five years for unleashed dogs. Silence. After
>awhile, a man at the C&O Park HQ called on the telephone (no record 
>to refer to)
>to weasel his way through the issue. I pressed him on the numbers and
>after some reluctance he admitted that the answer was, ta da, zero.
>
>The enforcement of dog leash laws on NPS property like the C&O Canal and
>elsewhere is not a question of lack of staff, it is a question of lack of
>will. The NPS does not WANT to enforce the laws re dog leashes. if they
>did, any time on a weekend when an enforcement officer was present, violators
>could be cited. The NPS gives every impression of fearing the political
>power of dog lovers.
>
>I too love dogs. But it bothers me that apartment dwellers acquire large
>dogs that need to be run and then expect to run them on public property
>where such action is prohibited. They apparently think it is their right to
>run their dogs where they want. I have gently advised several over the
>years that dogs must be leashed. Anger, denial, and disbelief have been the
>reaction.
>
>I think the answer for this conundrum is two fold:
>
>    The NPS should designate an area where dogs can be legally run off
>leash.
>
>    Many people write letters asking the NPS to enforce the law at all
>other places.
>
>Based on my experience, I am not very optimistic that either of these will
>occur or be successful.
>
>Bob Mumford
>Darnestown

D.H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, MD  20817
Telephone: (301) 530-5764
e-mail:  dhmbowenATyahooDOTcom

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