Hi Tweets,

I'm posting this on behalf of a group seeking to protect wildlife in the
parks of Vancouver BC. First a little background.

After some twenty years of explosive dog-population growth and laissez-faire
leash-law enforcement, the City of Vancouver BC's Park Board has begun quite
recently to enforce its leash-laws, fining dog-owners for their unleashed
dogs. Quite predictably, some dog-owners have formed a lobby group, the
Vancouver Dog Owners Association, to promote continued unrestricted and/or
modified access for unrestrained dog-running in the parks. The Park Board is
holding committee meetings and a forum to decide the issue of free-running
dogs in the city's parks. Since some of our parks have wildlife-sensitive
areas, the dog-owners association's proposals would sustain the damaging
effects that unrestrained dogs already have had.


* * * *

Here's the text of the group's request:

July 3 1997
Greetings;

In the next two weeks, there are to be committee meetings and a
public forum (just-announced) to consider appropriate freedoms and
restrictions for domestic dogs in the city parks of Vancouver BC Canada.
The Vancouver Dog Owners Association's platforms--several designated
off-leash areas; dogs permitted off-leash in *any* park areas before 9:00
AM; designated beach areas for dogs to swim--do not take into consideration
whether an area is a natural habitat. Unfortunately, at least one member of
the Park Board has already come out in support of these measures.

I would like to help refocus the issue toward wildlife protection. I
am writing to you in hope of locating the following:

1.
research that clarifies *directly* the effect that domestic dogs have on
wildlife--herps, mammals and especially birds. We have wintering, resident
and migratory populations of herons, eagles and other raptors, passerines,
shorebirds, diving and dabbling ducks, and seabirds. The habitats in these
parks include mixed woods, coniferous forest, scrub/grass and rough meadow,
freshwater ponds and marshes, protected saltwater beaches, mussel-beds,
mudflats and rocky shores;

2.
information or research specifically about the pre-9:00 AM period on
wildlife/bird needs and activities;

3.
addresses of other people or organisations to contact to locate the above
information or research: please send any of the research/information ASAP to
Karen Irving at the fax, phone number, or c/o email address below;

4.
scientific &/or informed recommendations to be sent directly to: Chairman
Duncan Wilson & Commissioners, Vancouver Park Board, 2099 Beach Avenue,
Vancouver B.C., V6G 1Z4; or fax: (604) 257-8427; please fax or email a 'cc'
copy of these submissions to Karen Irving at the fax number or c/o email
address below. General letters about mixing dogs and wildlife in parks,
please send to 'Dogs', at the above Parks Board address: the deadline for
written submissions is July 10 1997. The public meeting to discuss this
issue will be held Monday July 21 1997 at 7:00 PM, Judge MacGill Theater,
Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver BC. For further information, you
can call the Vancouver Park Board office at (604) 257-8440.

It's especially important if you live in Vancouver BC and/or use its parks
for wildlife viewing that you to write the Vancouver Park Board, as
sometimes the Board's decisions are made simply on the basis of numbers of
letters received pro and con. Please, if you can, attend the public meeting.


Thank you for any help you can give.

Sincerely,

Karen Irving
Friends of Jericho Park

c/o mprice at mindlink.net
Fax: (604) 988-9445
Phone: (604) 224-2546


* * * *

Thanks for your consideration.

Michael Price When I found out that seven of my years
Vancouver BC Canada was only one of theirs,
mprice at mindlink.net I started biting absolutely everything.
-Max Carlson (Ron Carlson's dog)