[pct-l] Dogs in National Parks

[Charles Williams]

I would like to add that dogs step anywhere they like, especially off-leash.  Most dog owners I've met on the trail do not obey leash laws in N.F. lands allowing their dog to do damage to sensitive hillsides and do damage every time they step off the trail.  A horse or lama, when on the trail, are almost allways guided and controlled by a person that decides where their animal steps.  Most the time that's on the trail, not doing damage outside the corridor.  
 
And yes, we have progressively less control over stock animals 3 or 4 or more back into a string, but I still think the pack animals we stockmen seek to work with don't step off the trail unless there's a reason.  Including blockages in the trail, poorly engineered trail, etc.
 
Just some thoughts from my observations on the trail.
 
Charles

--- On Mon, 12/12/11, ambery-80243 at mypacks.net <ambery-80243 at mypacks.net> wrote:


From: ambery-80243 at mypacks.net <ambery-80243 at mypacks.net>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Dogs in National Parks
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Date: Monday, December 12, 2011, 4:24 PM


-----Original Message-----
>From: mark utzman 
>Sent: Dec 12, 2011 1:46 PM
>To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>Subject: [pct-l] Dogs in National Parks
>

">I know by first hand experience that horses, pack mules and llamas have a
>MUCH MORE detrimental impact on trails and the back country than do dogs,
>and horses and pack mules are permitted on state and national park back
>country trails, while dogs are not."

The reason the parks ban dogs actually has nothing to do with their impact on trails.  They are restricted in the Code of Federal Regulations in the name of resource protection, as well as to preserve the natural experience of park users.

This is an explanation given from Yellowstone NP:


Restrictions on pets in parks are as much to protect your pet as to protect park resources. Following are some of the reasons parks give for regulating the presence of pets:
--When a loose pet chases a squirrel or raccoon, the wild animal’s ability to survive is threatened, and when it is threatened, it may react aggressively.
--There is a strong possibility in parks such as Yellowstone that your pet could become prey for bear, coyote, owl, or other predators. 
--There is a possibility of exchange of diseases between domestic animals and wildlife. --Dogs, the most common traveling companion, are natural predators that may harass or even kill native wildlife that is protected within the park’s boundaries.
--The "scent of a predator" that dogs leave behind can disrupt or alter the behavior of native animals. --Pets may be hard to control, even on a leash, within confines of often narrow park trails and may trample or dig up fragile vegetation. 
--Dog and cat feces add excessive nutrients and bacterial pollution to water, which decreases water quality and can also cause human health problems. 
--Finally, lost domestic animals sometimes turn to preying on park wildlife and must be destroyed.
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