I agree wholeheartedly. I regularly walk in St Edwards State Park, the only
undeveloped Lake Washington shoreline still remaining, and home to bobcats
as well as a great many birds. Washington law is clear that dogs in state
parks should be on leash, and there are many signs reminding people of
this, but I see people with their dogs roaming loose almost every time I
visit.

I have raised this subject with some of the dog walkers - most of them
apologise and leash the dogs, but I'm not naive enough to assume they stay
that way once I'm out of sight. I also contacted Washington State Parks via
their website about the situation, pointing out how frequent violations are
and asking what their enforcement policy is, but I didn't receive a
response.

Louise Rutter
Kirkland

On Fri, Nov 15, 2024 at 2:21 PM Elston Hill via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> One of my favorite locations for wildlife is the north end of the

> Arboretum. Nice wetlands and wilder than the rest of the park. Sadly, since

> not as many people visit this part of the park, it seems that some dog

> owners think this is a great place to release their dogs.

>

> There is one woman who shows up around 8:00 am. As soon as she crosses the

> bridge to Foster Island she unleashes the dog. The dog is not menacing to

> people but it is super hyper and runs like crazy in every direction and

> into the brush and wildest areas. I recently told her that I was taking

> pictures of her and her dog to send to the Arboretum. I have yet to send

> the pictures to the Arboretum, but the last two times I was at the

> Arboretum I was shocked to see that she had leashed her dog and was jogging

> with it rather than turning it loose.

>

> If we want to preserve our wild areas, we need to speak up and there

> should be enforcement of the leash laws. Fines to the offenders could pay

> for the enforcement.

>

> Elston Hill

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