[pct-l] PCT for Pets

[jbmaterick at stanfordalumni.org (J. Bradley Materick)]

Greetings once again,

www.pctforpets.org

I want to thank you all for your questions and concerns about my plans to hike the PCT with my dog, Banner, as a way to raise awareness and donations to benefit animal shelters.  I would love to reply to each individual concern that was raised to me, both publicly and privately, but this would require an email many pages in length that I do not have the luxury of time to write.  I can only say that I love my dog very much, that I have already spent several months seriously considering all of the concerns that were raised, and that I believe there are creative solutions to these issues which will allow Banner and I to travel the PCT safely and with relative comfort.  If you would like to send me a personal email with specific questions, I will try to respond to them, unless my inbox gets flooded, in which case I might not be able to.

The general question of whether or not dogs belong in the wilderness is a different subject altogether.  My personal opinion is that dogs (responsibly managed by their owners) do belong in the wilderness, at least as much as we humans do.  I completely respect the opinions of those who believe differently than me, which is why I do try so hard to minimize my dog's social and environmental impacts in the wilderness, but I think it would be futile to engage in a debate on this question since we all have our own positions on this, strongly held...

In any case, there seems to be no objection from list members or administration to posting the URL for my PCT for Pets website.  If you find the idea of our adventure intriguing (be it in a positive way or a diturbing way), perhaps you will consider exploring this site:

www.pctforpets.org

Thanks once again for your concerns and opinions,
J. Bradley

--------------------------------
J. Bradley Materick
jbmaterick@stanfordalumni.org

Field Naturalist Program
Department of Botany
120 Marsh Life Science Building
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405

(802) 578-3050 (cell)
(802) 656-0423 (work)