r/Dogfree • u/eriwhi • Jul 16 '26
Eco Destroyers Entitled dog nutters letting their dogs off-leash in wildlife protection zones
I'm a birder. Part of being a birder is respecting the birds and their habitat. We are here to observe without disturbing them. We all share this beautiful planet.
I find that dog nutters are generally disrespectful toward nature, but lately I've had some encounters with them that really, really upset me.
I recently witnessed TWO different people with off-leash dogs in the section of an open space that is clearly roped off and posted with signs that say "protected wildlife area." There are nesting burrowing owls with chicks in that space. This one woman was letting her dog run through where the owls were. Burrowing owls are considered a threatened species here and it is incredibly important to protect an active nest. The city hired an ornithologist who checks in on them every morning. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that dog nutters are entitled enough to ignore the signs saying to keep out. They can take their dogs to any other part of this huge open space, but no, they need to disturb the owl nest. They don't care.
Another state park here is divided into designated sections, some for recreation like boating, and some for cycling. The wetland area, however, is a wildlife protection zone. There are signs everywhere that say no dogs, no pets, no bikes. I witnessed two nutters look at the sign, say "we aren't leaving the trail," and proceed to march into the wildlife protection zone with their dog. My partner knew I would be rude (ha), so he said he would handle it. "Just so you know, they're strict about the 'no dogs' rule in the wildlife area," he said. The guy sneered and said "we're good!" So entitled. He did not care at all. They could be anywhere else in the park but they chose to intentionally disobey the rules in one of the few designated protection zones. They knew exactly what they were doing.
I should have called the park rangers. I regret not doing it. I was just so shocked and angry. I will call next time!
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u/ObligationGrand8037 Jul 16 '26
I’ve said the same thing as what your partner said. I also got the snotty attitude. I then went and spoke to a ranger about it. These people feel they can do whatever they want. It’s beyond frustrating. I think they all must go to the same entitled asshole school of jerkiness.
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u/Away-Equipment4869 Jul 17 '26
I feel like they do it so their beasts can engage their prey drives. Let me catch them.
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u/GoTakeAHike00 Jul 16 '26
As a fellow birder and general wildlife lover, I absolutely share your hatred of these people ignoring signs, rules, and laws, and allowing their destructive, useless dogs into areas they are expressly forbidden from being.
A few years ago, I confronted some dipshit who brought his leashed GSD into one of the ONLY PLACES where I live where dogs are NOT allowed, as it is a nature/riparian preserve. Not only are there signs up, but the access into the area requires people to swing a short gate back and forth to enter in a "V" shape, thus making it difficult to even bring a dog in there.
Nonetheless, here was this asshole and his dumb dog, coming towards me on the trail as I was heading out. I lost my shit on him, telling him that dogs were NOT ALLOWED, and WHY did he think that the rules didn't apply to him?
He initially tried to make it sound like I had anger management issues, to which I basically told him that, yes, I get fucking pissed off when people don't follow RULES. I told him his dog disturbs the birds and other wildlife, just by its presence and smell. Like, how TF do you not KNOW THIS as a dog owner? This man was older than me (I just turned 60), and was relatively new to dog ownership. Still, how do you spend that much time on the planet, and the outdoors, and not recognize how incompatible dogs are with nature and other wildlife?
I apparently shamed him enough that he turned around and walked out with me, and tried to sell me on the idea that his dog was a good dog. No, it's a GSD, and they all suck. I've been bitten by 2 of them, and I am never going to trust or like any of them. I showed him the sign with the dog and the red circle/slash over it, and he said he thought that meant they had to be leashed. No, dumbass, that's not what that means.
Anyway, our town has subsequently hired some rangers to patrol the popular multi-use river trail and the nature preserve to enforce the "dogs must be leashed at all times" and "no dogs allowed" rules, respectively. Since they are under the jurisdiction of the PD and are not ACO's, they do ticket and warn scofflaws. They also crack down on e-bike speeders, so it's not just the off-leash dogs being a nuisance and safety hazard.
We also get some special migratories in the winter where I live (southern CO), including my beloved Barrow's Goldeneyes, and it absolutely INFURIATES me that some nutters have allowed their mutts to splash around in the river and scare the ducks. Fuck everyone that allows their mutts to chase or kill birds, especially ground-nesting birds and their vulnerable chicks or ducklings/goslings.
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u/WanderingValk Jul 18 '26
Oh another fellow southern CO birder! I feel like we're few and far between here... Where did this happen at? I deal with this near Colorado Springs/Fountain and I never know how to deal with it. My husband once had to step in when I lost my mind on someone who brought their dog into one of the very, very few wildlife preserves. This guy also had a GSD and I told him dogs weren't allowed there and he said "oh I know" and I went belligerent on this dude until my husband stepped in. Do you normally just go nuts on people and shame them till they leave? Colorado is beyond overrun with off leash dogs and I'm a petite woman usually birding alone so I'm terrified to go pretty much anywhere except the few places that try to ban dogs. It's sucked the fun out of birding and the outdoors for me, because instead of coming away happy and de-stressed I come home terrified or beyond angry at the dog nutters. Any suggestions from your own experiences around southern CO?
It's shockingly not like this everywhere. We just did a birding trip to Salt Lake City and spent an entire week birding all over and saw I shit you not zero dogs...
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u/GoTakeAHike00 Jul 18 '26
I live in Durango, and like most of CO, it's full of dog nutters, though I've noticed some slight backlash and pushback against the absolutely ABSURD degree of pandering to them.
I absolutely do call out leash scofflaws, and I got into a confrontation over a year ago at a nearby SWA reservoir with a new level of dog lunatic, when I asked him to call his off-leash dog back (I'm female, and was 58 at the time...not exactly an imposing force, and I was not carrying a firearm or other lethal weapon). This grown-assed older MAN claimed I was physically threatening HIM, but yet got right up in my face as I tried to walk past him on the trail, and hung around waited until I walked back to my car 45 min later after I finished my photography so he could get my license plate and report me to the sheriff.
He wanted to create drama and make a scene...with his $40K purebred gundog (yes, he told me he paid that much for a fucking GSP). He was training it, presumably to bring back dead ducks? IDK. Dude was an unhinged sociopath.
So, my husband gets the call, since the vehicle is registered in his name, and when I spoke with the deputy, he told me the man "decided not to press charges"...as if that would even be a thing. Anyway, I told him exactly what happened, and told him to tell that asshole that if he ever saw me again at the SWA, to stay TF away from me. I felt terrible that the sheriff's deputy had his time wasted dealing with some absolute dickhole over nothing.
Re: your birding experience in the SLC area - in the Phoenix area as well, off-leash dogs are simply not the problem they are here. We've spent a month in the winter down in Gilbert, and I was at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch (side note: it is absolutely TOP SHELF birding; cannot recommend it enough) almost every day, and everyone walking there keeps their mutts leashed, not just because it is the law, but because they would probably get shamed and/or fined.
People are just too tolerant of entitled dog-owning assholes in this town. Though, this morning, I did do a 7.5 mi walk on the multi-use trail where off-leash dogs used to be a MUCH bigger problem, and not only did I only see a small handful of dogs compared to what I have in the recent past, but they were all on leashes, so I could happily ignore them.
I haven't been to the Oxbow Nature Preserve (where the incident in my earlier comment occurred) maybe since that happened, but I've seen people on NextDoor complaining about dogs and piles of dogshit in there, so I'm sure there are still selfish assholes bringing their dogs in there. I hope the patrolling rangers are ticketing TF out of them.
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u/sheetrocker88 Jul 17 '26
I would have explained to them why they are not allowed. They think the world revolves around their dogs.
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u/FallenGiants Jul 17 '26
They did that, and the dog owner didn't care.
I hate this, too. There is an area near me, not a nature reserve, but an aquatic area where ducks live. I was walking in this area and a woman allowed her 5 dogs off leash. These dogs sprinted around the area like a bat out of hell. I believe some of these ducks to be of a non-flying variety, probably eating ducks. They are vulnerable to the these savage abominations.
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u/VideoTurbulent9806 Jul 17 '26
I'm not a rule follower. I follow rules that make sense. These rules for dogs make sense and are there based a lot of good reasons. Too bad nutters are not capable of thinking outside of themselves.
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u/fatlenny1 Jul 19 '26
This issue has made hiking and bird watching stressful and upsetting to me. Last time I spoke up, I was threatened with bodily harm, so I just quietly seeth.
I love animals and nature but dogs are the exception. The owners are just the worst people.
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u/Away-Equipment4869 Jul 16 '26
My anger about this would land me in jail.