Dog-walking 'can harm wildlife'

[T_i_B]

Source: Daily Telegraph

Dogs are the four legged foes of natural wildlife and not their friends, according to the first study to quantify the effects on local birds of taking them for a walk.

Experiments show that dog-walking causes more than 40 per cent reduction in bird abundance and more than 35 per cent reduction in bird diversity in woodlands, even if the pets are kept on a lead.

"These results support the ban on access for dog-walking to sensitive natural areas," said Dr Peter Banks, who did the study at the University of New South Wales with Jessica Bryant. "I can't see why it wouldn't be relevant to the UK and other places," he told The Daily Telegraph.

Dog-walking is among the world's most popular outdoor activities, with clear benefits to both human and canine health. But conservation managers often ban dogs from natural areas, fearing they will deter local wildlife, resulting in outcry at the restricted access to public land.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/09/05/eadogs105.xml

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Is there anything that isn't bad for the enviroment?

[MADem]

1. Nope--and our taco farts add to the cow fart/belch problem, too!

We'll have to all hunker down with our Beano, awash with collective guilt.

[Lobster Martini]

2. This post killed a heron. (n/t)

[XemaSab]

33. This post made an albatross eat plastic. (n/t)

[sleipnir]

3. Humans are environment modifers. That's what these studies prove.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a truth.

We actively change our environment in many ways, that's what we do, we need to accept this and figure out what to do next (if anything.)

[Kali]

20. most organisms modify their environment,

[aquart]

4. Piffle. Now, if they'd said cats...

We are always cleaning bloody bits and feathers and fur off surfaces at my mother's.

[Heidi]

5. The Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger rebukes you!

:P

[aquart]

6. That is not a ginger cat. That is an applehead Siamese.

Oh, I miss my Willisreed!

[Heidi]

8. I'm sorry that your kitty has passed, aquart.

:hug: :pals:

Ginger was named by my Swiss-German-speaking mother-in-law, who thought it sounded like a good name for a male kitten. Ginger's not really an applehead Siamese, though. His mom is blue-gray, and his father was a black-and-white cat. We don't know where his Siamese looks come from. :shrug:

[aquart]

44. From an applehead ancestor. Or two.

When he meows, does it sound like babies are being butchered?

[Heidi]

58. Ginger has two kinds of meows.

One is sort of short and quiet and the other (the "I'm here!") _does_ sound like babies being butchered. :rofl:

[aquart]

62. You got a Siamese cat.

[otohara]

65. Acutally, The Audubon Society

The American Bird Conservancy* has launched a citizen education and action campaign to end the massive and unnecessary loss of birds and other wildlife to predation by domestic cats. Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats (owned, stray, and feral) kill hundreds of millions of birds and possibly more than a billion small mammals in the U.S. each year. Cats kill not only birds that frequent our backyards, such as the Eastern Towhee, American Goldfinch, and Song Sparrow, but also WatchList species such as the Snowy Plover, Wood Thrush, and Black-throated Blue Warbler, and endangered species such as the Least Tern and Piping Plover. Not only are birds and other wildlife at risk, but cats who roam free often lead short and painful lives, living on average less than 5 years, whereas indoor cats often live to 17 or more years of age.

The American Bird Conservancy has prepared informative educational materials on the impact of cats on birds, including documentation on cat predation, health hazards, and other dangers associated with free-roaming cats, legislative solutions, and practical advice on how to convert an outdoor cat into a contented indoor pet. These materials, prepared with the assistance of a technical advisory committee with representatives from the animal welfare, conservation (including National Audubon Society), veterinary, and scientific communities, will be a valuable asset to Audubon chapters, bird clubs, schools, and the general public.

NAS passed a Resolution on Cats, and the Christian Science Monitor printed an article on June 3, 1998, titled Fur Flies over Rising Feline Population.

http://www.audubon.org/bird/cat/

[Retired AF Dem]

7. I've been walking my dogs

just about every day for thirty years. Still plenty of birds around my area.

[China_cat]

10. Let's see. Big dogs (at least 2 at a time) for 30 years

ought to have our place devoid of any wildlife. (Not to mention the outdoor cat who hangs around here and we feed)

The mockingbird nest in the azaleas, built with dog hair as part of it, produced 4 young ones this year. The bluejays like the dry cat food we put out and share it with the cat. Mourning doves make morning miserable. And then there's the transients going through. Oh, and the Carolina wrens that nest in the back every year.

The hawk gets more of the grackles and starlings than any cat ever would. And the possum eats birds eggs. There's also a fox living under my middle outbuilding that teases the dogs when they have to go out at night. Not to mention the raccoons that live next door.

No, I don't live out in the country. I live in town.

I blame crap like this coming out of people who have always lived in the city and don't know (and have never bothered to learn) that birds and wild things go quiet when something strange enters their territory. It doesn't mean they aren't there.

[T_i_B]

12. And then there's the whole matter...

...of what crap like this does for the enviromental cause. When people start blaming cow farts for global warming and dog walkers for reducing bird numbers that just convinces people that we are just loonies.

And it shouldn't be like this. The enviroment is a serious issue, with serious threats such as pollution to be dealt with and it's not going to be helped IMHO by people coming out with spurious gibberish such as this.

[China_cat]

28. Sometimes I have to wonder if this shit isn't coming

from the loonier animal rights people who don't want anyone to have pets. Wild animals are ok, pets and working animals are not.

[acmavm]

9. ?? Dogs walking around is new to the planet? Before dogs were

domesticated, what was the deal? And then before people became so restrictive on dog, when they were let out of the house just to run (like when I was young). What then?

[Demit]

11. I can't quite grasp the concept of dogs (or wolves) being traditional hunters of birds.

Unless wolves used to be able to climb trees.

[Virginia Dare]

21. Foxes do, I know that, because I've seen them hunt birds...

I suppose dogs did way back in the day as well.

[susanna]

57. I'll admit my late great pet (dog)

hunted birds, in her own unique way. (Working dog, Akita mix.) As a pup, she came into the house one snowy, cold winter night with a bird (tail feathers sticking out of her mouth) and rushed to her cage to "bury" it for future use. I, of course, thrill-crusher that I am, knew her game. I asked her, "what do you have?" and she slunk off to the corner of the cage (tail feathers still obviously poking out of her mouth). I figured 1) she'd eventually choke on it, or 2) she'd give it up.

She gave it up, yet was pissed at me for a week for taking her quarry. My own opinion? She was a HUGE dog - no way she got that thing by fair rights. More likely it was dying (it was deep winter) and she just scooped it up.

So I won't say dogs don't sometimes "hunt" birds, but I will say the one my dog "killed" was probably close to dead already. I read a later post about sighthounds, which my dog assuredly was not, so that poster knows more than I do about her breed.

Anyway, my dog was leashed 99.9% of the time, and when so, did not flush or otherwise compromise birds. She liked to mess with squirrels MUCH more. I buried multitudes. Not that I was tremendously sorry, honestly. I'm a big-time vegetable gardener and they eat everything as if it's planted for them; obviously instinctive, but no less annoying after tending the plants for months. Strange.

On edit: expanded thoughts

[rexcat]

36. I have a Whippet and he loves to...

catch birds. He flushes them out of the bushes in our yard and catches them. Unfortunately the birds don't survive. Many of the sighthound breeds are notorious for doing this.

On edit:
On the other hand I don't see where a dog on a lead in a natural setting would be detrimental to wildlife. If anything we humans should get more of the blame.

[MiniMe]

13. I call BS on this

How can you blame something like that solely on dogs? What other factors could have caused it? Did he have a control area where there were no dogs at all?

OK, I admit I didn't read the article, but I don't see how he could have ruled other factors out.

[semillama]

16. I call BS on your post

Since you admit you didn't read the article. If you didn't read the article, then you don't know what you are talking about. Read the article before you post, otherwise you look silly. The evidence is pretty strong, and the experiment could easily be replicated to test the results.


They in fact did have a control. The test included walking with dogs, just humans walking alone, and observation of an area with no foot traffic.
Also note that the article is not advocating the cessation of dog walking. The results of the study suggest that dog walking has a negative impact on breeding birds in natural areas with birds that are not your common back yard birds like mockingbirds, grackles and house finches. As I take my dog out for walks in our neighborhood, I have noticed that the most urban of birds, the House Sparrow, always spooks up and flies to cover at our approach, whereas if I am walking without the dog, they spook but generally just fly a couple feet away. I would think that birds such as quail might be induced to abandon nesting if a dog passed close by, and a finding of a 75% reduction in bird diversity within the area of a dog walking trail seems to bear this out.

It should be common sense that you don't walk your dog through wildlife areas, but unfortunately, there are dog owners who believe it is their right to bring their dogs anywhere. I've often told people in our local metroparks on the nature trails that dogs aren't allowed, and almost always got blank looks of surprise at being told such a thing. I even told a couple this as they walked their dog right past a sign that said "No pets on nature trails"!

[MiniMe]

25. You have a point, and I have now read the article

And I still have a problem with their methods. They did the survey right after somebody had walked through with a dog. It doesn't surprise me at all that animals and birds have temporarily moved while a dog moves through, that doesen't necessarily mean that they are staying away.

And who died and made you god? What do you know about me? I have 2 dogs, and I don't take them into parks, etc where it is marked no dogs. In Maryland, you can't take dogs into State Parks, leashed or not, so I don't. I also pick up after my dogs, I have plastic bags in all of my pockets. As several have posted, there are wild dogs too, such as wolves and coyotes. Are you going to keep them out of the nature areas also?

[semillama]

41. What methods would you suggest?

Of course you survey after they walk through with a dog. How else do you determine if the dog was effecting the presence of birds? It seems to me that you really have a problem with the results, not the method, even though you yourself state you do not take them into parks, which is what the study supports. So even though you are arguing against the study, your dog-walking behavior would appear to be in line with the implications of the study.

and I don't know anything about you, except that you appear to post without reading the article and seem to be rather sensitive to being called on your errors of judgment, which doesn't leave a good impression. I never implied that you weren't a good dog owner. I never even implied that you were even a dog owner. I simply called you out for posting without reading the article, using the same rhetoric you used in your original post.

Regarding your statement about wild canids, that's just ridiculous. Wolves in particular are probably not a problem for wild birds in the continental US, as they number less than 6,000 individuals according to the USFWS. Coyotes are much more numerous and expanding, but the study was not about the effect of natural predators on birds, it was about dog walking in natural areas, particularly natural areas near areas of concentrated human habitations where stressors on bird populations would already be high because of factors such as habitat fragmentation and introduced predators, such as house cats. While coyotes are expanding into urban areas and thus probably contributing to stress on bird populations, in natural areas they are fulfilling their ecological niche.

[Demit]

29. Yes, and when I walk my dogs thru my neighborhood, the sparrows hop a few inches away.

And the dogs, for their part, show a similar disinterest in the sparrows, being much more interested in tracking the squirrels. We don't get to the nature trails outside the city, but we have plenty of anti-dog hostility to contend with inside the city limits. People who let their cats out overnight to roam don't seem to get the same opprobrium.

[semillama]

42. Talk to birders like me and you'll hear all about irresponsible cat owners

Domestic cats belong inside, no question about it. And people who let their cats roam around free outside are causing big problems for wildlife, and are a much bigger problem than dog walkers. But that topic is a distraction from the topic of the study and this thread, which is that dog walking can disturb wildlife.

Disclaimer: We have three cats and a dog, and the cats live indoors. The dog goes for walks in the neighborhood too, but we don't take him on the dog trails at the metroparks, which do go through natural areas. I've had friends whose dogs have gotten loose and were shot by farmers for chasing deer. Horrible thing to happen.

[FuJun]

14. Too Many...

Whatever the merits of this particular article, there can be no denying that domestic dogs, and their by-products, have a negative effect on the environment. There are simply too many pet dogs in this country. I realize they are social animals, but in all honesty I cannot understand why anyone should have more than two at one time.

[Erva]

24. You could say the same for people. n/t

[StarryNite]

38. Exactly!

And welcome aboard. :hi:

[Ayesha]

32. My 5 dogs

hike their legs in your general direction.

Our pets are our children and they mean the world to us. Mind your own business and stay out of mine!

And BTW, we don't take our dogs on nature trails where they aren't permitted. But I call bullshit on this article - despite our dogs chasing and barking at them, we have a ton of birds in our yard. We actually put pinwheels up on our fence to scare away the birds because they were making our hunting-ancestry dog crazy.

P.S. I hear the shelter is hiring people to kill all the unwanted pets that people like you with your anti-dog attitudes cause to lose their homes every year.

P.P.S. Where is your anger at the fundie Christians who have 10 kids to make more soldiers for Jeezus? I guarantee they damage the environment more than my dogs and their organic dog food do.

[FuJun]

48. Well...

"P.P.S. Where is your anger at the fundie Christians who have 10 kids to make more soldiers for Jeezus? I guarantee they damage the environment more than my dogs and their organic dog food do."

Nice straw man. FYI, I also support a law limiting the number of children a couple may have (one or two, I can't decide), just as with pets.

[Retired AF Dem]

51. Warning dont look at this pic

I wouldnt want to offend you.


Two dogs? No way

[FuJun]

52. Sorry to dissapoint...

But I'm not offended. Just believe the resources needed to care for excessive numbers of "pets" could be better applied elsewhere, such as providing for the poor.

[Retired AF Dem]

54. I pay about 20,000 a year in taxes

I pay my share. I guess it's the fault of the assholes in govt that isnt spending my tax money on the poor. The money I have left after taxes I will spend any damn way I please.

[FuJun]

64. Irrelevant

"I pay about 20,000 a year in taxes
I pay my share. I guess it's the fault of the assholes in govt that isnt spending my tax money on the poor. The money I have left after taxes I will spend any damn way I please."

The amount of money you pay in taxes is irrelevant if you know it will be misallocated. My point is simple: fewer dogs = more money you can donate to charities and programs which will help the underprivilaged

[Honeycombe8]

15. As a dog lover, life long dog owner, and avid dog walker, I've noticed this.

I have noticed the effects on other creatures of my having dogs, or not.

I have had dogs for periods of time, and not had dogs for periods of time. I have noticed this before. When I don't have dogs, more creatures come into my yard....birds, squirrels, an occasional rabbit, an occasional toad, etc. When I do have dogs, all these creatures are more scarce. They can smell the "droppings" of the dog, and the sudden appearance of the dog causes all other creatures to scatter. This is the sad part of having dogs, since I want other creatures to come into my yard.

Dogs are predators. My chubby cocker spaniel, who you wouldn't think of as a hunter at all, would love to "rush" birds of any type on the ground. That's where they got the name cocker, from rushing woodcock out of the brush for hunters to then shoot. My current dog will chase anything in the yard that moves, and hop up on the trunks of trees to try to get at squirrels.

Whether the dog could actually catch anything is beside the point. The other creatures can tell there's a predator in their midst, so their survival instincts tell them to stay away. I'm okay with banning of dogs in sensitive wildlife areas. People and their pets don't need to go absolutely everywhere in the world, with no regard for the effects on what makes a wildlife area special. "Sensitive" means sensitive, and that means special rules.

[FlaGranny]

30. Your dogs must have a different effect

than my dog does. I WISH the presence of my dog would cause a reduction in the rabbit population. I can't grow any ornamental flowers. The great abundance of rabbits just eat them to the ground. My dog and I see the very same critters of every description every single day. The birds sing outside every morning (love to hear them). They don't seem to care I have a dog. The foxes and bobcats and alligators (the free roaming large predators) don't seem to have much effect either and we have all of them - in a heavily populated suburban area. Perhaps suburban birds and wildlife ARE more used to the presence of dogs - but the wild predators would be a more likely deterrent. Birds are pretty smart creatures when it comes to predators. I think cats do the most damage to the bird population, but there are a few feral cats in my neighborhood who don't seem to be doing very much damage to our bird population. Actually, I think huge blackbirds intimidate the song birds more than any other creatures do. I have always noticed a shortage of songbirds when there is a large population of blackbirds. The pigeons and doves around here are a huge nuisance also.

[XemaSab]

34. I've seen a reduction in sparrows

when the dogs are in the back yard vesus when they're not, but our yard gets kickass critters in it, even with the dogs.

Titmice, bushtits, white crowners, golden crowners, waxwings, 2 kinds of towhee, green herons, finches, goldfinches, warblers, mourning doves....

[StarryNite]

40. I haven't had the same experience.

We have ground squirrels that dig holes all over the yard. I have shoveled up dog pooh and dropped it down their holes to try to get them to leave. The next day I had found that the squirrels just tossed the pooh back out of the holes. It was laying around the outside of the holes and the squirrels just went on about their day probably wondering why in the heck a dog would take a crap in their hole. So then I tried scooping pooh out of kitty's litter box and I put that in the holes. That did the trick. The squirrels wouldn't touch the stuff and they abandoned the holes so we could fill them in and they stayed filled in. Now when I notice a new hole I take kitty's contribution and drop it in. Thank you kitty!

[Nihil]

63. Thank you - I needed that!

> ...and the squirrels just went on about their day probably wondering
> why in the heck a dog would take a crap in their hole.

:spray: :rofl:

[MadHound]

17. Ah, so dogs on a leash cause the birds unease, but free ranging coyotes and foxes don't?

Whatever:eyes: This seems like a poorly done study in my opinion. The fact that they conducted it on the edge of a major urban area might have more effect on what birds do than what other creatures are in the area.

I have dogs myself, and live on twenty acres in a rural area. Our dogs have a fenced yard, but are allowed, under supervision, to run on the property. This doesn't seem to have detered the herds of deer that pass through and live in my woods, nor the flock of turkeys, herons, pair of pheasants, rabbits, squirrels, foxes, geese, etc. etc. from sharing the land with my dogs and myself.

Sorry, but this sounds like a bad and biased study.

[Robb]

18. I have an anecdote

...which is evidence of nothing, scientifically-speaking. :)

I was at a grip-n-grin handing-over of a check to pay for a new riparian space at our nearby river park. Town council was lined up with the fellow handing over the giant novelty check to pay for several acres.

Anyhoo, I swear they were talking about how the division of wildlife had helped with grant money, on the understanding that a section of it would require leashes on dogs, for the sake of migrating deer and elk who did their crossing there. And a woman came up the path with two medium-sized mixed-breed dogs, both off-leash. From another direction, two deer.

The dogs split from mom and went after one of the deer from two sides, one actually muscled the thing down onto the ground and was -- maybe playfully -- biting at the deer's belly. Good-sized deer, too, and relatively small dog.

Everyone went rather apeshit, finally separated the two and the deer got up and took off.

I visited with mom and dogs after. Really, neither dog struck me as the kind that would even consider doing such a thing. I've got huskies, and I'm used to thinking of them as rather wolfish -- they've killed two skunks that came into the fenced yard in the past three years, neither time got a drop of spray on 'em. But these two looked like pushovers.

Dogs, like all animals, can surprise you. Even after decades of being among them.

[LeftHander]

19. One Fisher in your woods and it will kill everything...

Even your cat. Without a healthy porcupine population Fishers to go after anything else.



I lived in Northern Wisconsin and they introduced Fisher back to the woods. I had Black squirrels and a host of other critters living in my yard. I saw a Fisher one day in the the yard and that was it. A week later the black squirrels were gone, the flying squirrels were gone, chipmunks, and ground squirrels, vols, moles, the grouse, the raccoon family was gone, the birds were gone and my cat was ripped up and found at the top of a thin maple hanging on for dear life.

They are beautiful vicious little bastards. The only thing they don't eat are black bears. They came too and ate everything that was left. My bird feeder, the humming bird feeder, all the wild berries, the garbage...and tried to get into our house and raid the fridge.

[Virginia Dare]

22. I'm a dog lover and a dog walker...

but I see no problem with banning dogs from certain sensitive natural areas, as long as there are plenty of other places available for canines and humans to enjoy together.

[LisaM]

39. Exactly!

I agree that there should be plenty of habitat for birds and other creatures, but give us some dog walking areas too. If they establish dog areas (and the owners comply with them) the birds will quickly learn what areas are safe.

I had a laugh a few years ago when they were trying to ban dogs from Marymoor Park (near Seattle), blaming them for erosion of the Sammamish Slough. In the meantime, you could look about a quarter of a mile away at a hillside covered with McMansions, most of the trees removed, hardly a sign of vegetation, just huge new houses perched on the hillside. But it's the dogs who are causing the erosion? LOL.

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. Well, at least dogs don't smoke cigarettes!

:-)

[DemBones DemBones]

47. Can't manage those lighters, or matches, either.

No thumbs. Otherwise, who knows, there could be chain-smoking dogs. Poodles, of course, would use long cigarette holders, while bulldogs would smoke cigars. Labs might go in for pipes while I can picture Chihuahuas with big doobies, or those very thin cigarettes.

It could open up an entire new market for tobacco cmpanies if they could come up with a way for dogs to light cigarettes. But what kind of person would encourage their dog to smoke?

[ozone_man]

26. Dog scent is a big issue.

And ground dwelling birds are most at risk. I don't like to see people bring their dogs into the wilderness for this reason.

"Dog walking caused a 41 per cent reduction in the numbers of bird individuals detected and a 35 per cent reduction in species richness compared with untreated controls," they concluded. "Humans walking alone also induced some disturbance but typically less than half that induced by dogs."

[shanti]

27. cesar millan

isn't going to like this news! :evilgrin:

[davhill]

31. I was walking my dog yesterday

and a doe and her fawn came within 3 feet of us. She kept an eye on the dog and always made sure she was between him and the fawn. Other than that our presence did not seem to bother her.

[XemaSab]

35. The UK's environment

(as I understand it) is way more trashed than ours is.

We've got VAST tracts of open space where people (and their dogs) rarely go.

I am a hardcore bird lover, but I don't think this study should influence policy in America.

[T_i_B]

60. I wouldn't go that far

There's still plenty of unspoilt stuff. Indeed I was very fortunate that just outside of the city where I grew up we had the Peak District National Park. If we don't have the same amount of open space as America then all I can say is that it's probably got something to do with the fact that we are not as big a country geographically.

The one proviso when walking the dog in the country is that the dog must be on a lead as the last thing you want is for the dog to go off chasing sheep. But that's just common sense.

[mopinko]

37. i add my bullshit to the other calls of bullshit.

this study is a steaming pile.

[Xithras]

43. This is a big issue in Yosemite.

People head up there for vacation, and take their dogs with them. Dogs are allowed in campsites, and on paved valley trails ONLY, but there is a constant stream of visitors who want to take their dogs out into the backcountry, or with them down any of the myriad of unpaved valley trails. Last time I checked, the fine was a couple hundred bucks and the rangers took a zero tolerance, no warning policy.

Of course, the policy is as much to protect the dogs as the park. Bears and mountain lions will generally avoid humans, but they see dogs as fellow wildlife and potential predators. Every year, a few dogs get carried off in the park (generally smaller ones), and a few years ago there was an incident where a lady was hiking near Tuolumne Meadows with her Lab when a bear charged out of the underbrush and mauled it without provocation. The bear ignored the human, but the DOG was potential competition and had to be killed.

[woo me with science]

45. Guess we should keep them chained up in the basement. nt

[DemBones DemBones]

46. Can dogs fly in the UK?

Because birds' natural instinct is to fly away from anything chasing them, and they're pretty darn good at it. Dogs aren't equipped to go up trees after them as cats are, either.

Seriously, how many times have you ever seen a dog catch a bird? Try to catch a bird?

I think dogs know birds can fly and aren't much interested in them.

[suston96]

49. Wild life can harm dog walkers....

A lady walking a dog was attacked and bitten by a rattlesnake here in our retirement community in Dewey, Arizona.

Wide open streets and very little vegetation. Lots of building surrounding the community displacing wild life.

[SayWhatYo]

50. Animals shouldn't be pets anyways... No one should own a dog.

Just kidding, I love my dog buddy.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

53. I agree with this some what

Where the animals and birds are used to dogs there's no harm done. But when I take my dogs on walks in some remote parts of our farm/ranch they cause havoc. All I can hear are the stupid dogs yipping with excitement and the noise of deers as they run like hell. Once a deer jumped over some brush and almost landed on me! I almost had a bunny run into my legs once. Needless to say I started keeping them on a leash or leaving them behind when I go into these areas. If a lot of people walked their dogs in these places the wildlife would be run off. When I'm by myself I see such wonderful things. I followed a baby coyote once for awhile. Imagine doing that with two happy Airedales in tow. I was watching a Bob Cat at one time and was getting really close till my dog spotted it!

[Snarkturian Clone]

55. I'm going to do a study

about how studies like this are crap.

yeah yeah I know "your post is crap"

[pitohui]

56. what was their first clue, captain obvious?

anyone who has tried to walk in a natural area and had a dog come along, even on a leash, as they are required to be in many parks, knows that the rare and nervous birds are flushed and not seen again on that walk

there is nothing wrong with walking your dog in suburbia, in your neighborhood, or in an urban "pocket park" which is mostly lost anyway

but if we care about the environment (and mostly we don't if we're asked to make even a tiny sacrifice) yeah, walking a dog in a so-called wilderness is destructive

and i don't really care about the multiple anecdotes about "but we have so many rabbits" and "we have so many deer" -- yes, rabbits and deer are pest species at this time of century, but for the rare species that are more sensitive to predators, if we want to preserve what is rare and precious, at some point we're going to have to make choices

the person who thinks a white-tailed deer is rare and precious is a person who doesn't get outdoors anyway and probably shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion on the topic

[Autobot77]

59. My dog has tried to harm wildlife where I live..

But I will not let her kill anything. Mostly she tries to eat animals that are already dead like birds and frogs,(Which has caused a trip to the vet) but she was tried to kill a bird before.
I agree that dogs should not be walked in certain areas, for their protection as well as the wildlife's.

[pinniped]

61. There is no mention of our felidae friends that like to hunt birds and rodents.

I'm waiting for that comprehensive study.