The more things change...

... the more they stay the same!   As  follow up to this post, I received a visit from 2 AC officers a few days ago.  They asked me a few questions about the at-large dogs and we had a brief follow up conversation about it.

One thing about that conversation I really did NOT appreciate were the logical contortions they went through to absolve Rover and Fido.

Here is what I am talking about:  I mentioned that another neighbor had seen the dogs kill and dismember a cat on her front lawn.  They responded "ALLEGEDLY killed...".   Apparently, the other complainant had not actually seen the dogs attack the living cat, merely tear it apart.  I estimate she heard a commotion, and proceeded to a door/window after the dogs had already begun their dirty deed.

My response?  A facepalm and a big eye-roll.  This is insulting to the intelligence.  Look, this block does not have a problem with dead cats strewn everywhere.  The theory that the cat had a heart attack and died just prior to Rover and Fido happening along is REALLY far fetched.  We are contemplating way past reasonable doubt here.  Did a necropsy show the cat was already dead?  No?  Then the most likely explanation is Rover and Fido chased down the cat and killed it.   No sane society would grant these sort of due-process protections to DOGS.

This was nothing but a big cop-out engineered to get Rover and Fido off the hook.  

In any case, they did state that they intended to continue to cite the dog owner with escalating penalties as the offenses racked up.  So, there is that.

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon!

Double Trouble or "Here we go again!!!"

I awoke from my long slumber to find my neighborhood terrorized by 2 at large pit-type dogs.  Given the current social, political and legal climate such a thing was bound to happen sooner or later.

Here are the photos, courtesy of one of my "game-cams":

Consider the butt-ugly mutant on the left.  It should be illegal to even house something that hideous, much less turn it loose in the neighborhood.  The low-quality game cam shot does not do it justice.... this dog is U.G.L.Y!

In any case, they ripped the lid off my trash can (Which had been secured with multiple bungee cords), and spread trash all over my yard.  Thanks, doggers!

A couple of days later, I learned from another neighbor that these two had killed a cat in her front yard.  The cat was literally ripped to shreds.   She told me she "never wanted to see anything that horrible again".   Long story short, the entire neighborhood is on alert, and everyone is now carrying weapons.  County AC has been to the owner's home multiple times (They have received at least 4 complaints over 2 weeks that I know about), yet we still observe the dogs running loose!   I'm not absolutely sure who owns them, but my nextdoor neighbor thinks they belong to a party that closed on a home about a month ago.

I think I need to pay these folks a visit.  I wonder what would be a good way to welcome them to the neighborhood?

1)  Pass along a hard copy of the "Best use for a dead pit bull" article?
2)  Delivery of a restraining order?
3)  "No, I haven't seen your dogs, but try some of these really tasty meatballs I made this morning"?

Happy holidays, everyone!

More off leash Lunacy

Alternate title “My new buddy!”.

Alternate title #2: “Mother Nature is a Bitch”.

So, here is a fresh photo of my new buddy “Frank”:

Why is Frank such a great gator? Well, Frank is representative of his kind and he presents a great reason why ONLY MORONS LET THEIR DOGS OFF LEASH.

Here is my past essay on this issue.

Repeat: If you let your dog off leash you are a douchebag, an idiot and a criminal. You are a shithead with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You are a worthless bag of meat that is not fit for society and I would not feed you to my dog (if I had one). I would say go to hell, but that would be too nice a place for you. I would compost you, but I expect your worthless carcass would grow nothing but Poison Ivy. You deserve to be burned to ash, your remains stuffed into a lead barrel and sealed up in the nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca mountain for all eternity. Got all that? Good.

In any case, I had a nice little trip to Hillsborough River State Park this past weekend. Nice place. I stayed overnight in my little travel trailer. First, I did have some problems overnight with some useless dog barking. Know what, anyone that lets their dog bark at 3am within earshot of anyone else should be thrown head first into a woodchipper, but I digress.

So, I get back from a tour of one of the historic sites on Sunday and I am chatting up one of the park rangers, as I often do. I am no longer a state hike leader, but I still keep up with the various goings on in the park system.

Anyways, I told the ranger lady about my run in with “Frank” and she told me that there was a bad dog-alligator altercation fairly recently. REALLY? Yes, apparently some rocket scientist decided it would be a great idea to let his Labrador off leash (in violation of park rules) to splash around in the river. A resident alligator then proceeded to rip Fido to shreds right in front of the entire extended family and several other park guests!  Hey genius: Your god dog is NOT part of nature. He does NOT understand the risks. KEEP YOUR DOG LEASHED AND ON THE TRAIL.

Surprisingly, the owner took responsibility for the incident. Typically, the dog owner tries to sue the park, even though THEY were breaking the rules.

I don't know what happened to the gator in question (it was not Frank).  It probably had to be destroyed (unfortunately) even though the dog WAS the instigator. Ah, well.   Its bad enough the dog had to die that way due to it's owners douchy incompetence, but its ALSO bad PR for the parks, which have enough problems already.  Note there was no news item on this as far as I could determine.

REMEMBER: NOBODY wants your dog in their space or in their face! Not alligators NOR fellow human beings. YOU dog owners need to respect the rights of others or your dog (and maybe you too) will become lunch.  RuleZ of Nature BitchEZ!

Phony complaints my ass

I live in marginal peace. Doggers within a half block radius know better than to tone up the neighborhood with their yard barkers... pursuant to the 2 year conflict with the foaming at the mouth raving dognuts across the street. They would LIKE to tone everyone else up, but they know I won't let them get away with it.

However, if you increase that radius to say, 3 blocks you get into some serious AC issues. If I step outside at any time in a 24 hour period, it is impossible to NOT hear a dog bark. I literally see off leash dogs on a daily basis.

I don't bother complaining for the primary reason that I am burnt out on that, and again I have at least marginal peace in the home... I can sleep through the night and do my work without interruption. I am sure these other doggers are making their immediate neighbor's life pure hell but that is a battle for them to fight, not me.

This is an intermediate essay regarding the Klonda Richey incident. I have been reading the facebook pages, blogs, news websites and the like regarding the incident. Not surprisingly, I see a trend in the comments indirectly blasting those who make complaints.

Here are some good ones from the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center:

Heather Coleman How long did you stay and watch? Most loose dogs don't hang around at home...but do come back shortly...yeah 90% of these complaints come from pissy neighbors with too much time on their hands, but you are out there for that time that there is a legitimate complaint, like this one. Hope this is a wake up call to everyone.

Deborah Koehler Agree with Christina, some people use the ACO to harass neighbors regarding their pets.

Yup, thats right Heather – in spite of the fact that neighborhoods all over the world have an epidemic of barking, biting, dog off leash, and dog crap everywhere, a full NINETY PERCENT of such complaints are false! All I hear are barking dogs, but I'll just go ahead and FABRICATE a complaint since I am just a nasty dog-hating Nazi.

Tell you what Heather – come to my block and throw a rock... there is probably a 90% chance you will hit a nuisance barker, dog off leash, dog behaving dangerously, dog destroying property, or a dog shitting on someone else's lawn. How is that for a great statistic??

The absurdity of Heather's statement is compounded by the fact that, in most places, it is next to impossible to prosecute a dog owner for ANY bad behavior. This is based on the First Principle that all dogs are wonderful and all dog owners are Noble. Anybody who does not love Fido unconditionally is a bad person, and all dogs and dog owners are by definition justified in ALL of their actions.

Seriously, if I were to harass a neighbor I would use ANYTHING other than a dog complaint. Dog owners are given a pass on just about everything. Authorities go WAY out of their way to protect dogs and their owners. Their overclass status is nearly rock solid. It would be, literally, the path of MOST resistance. I'd be the knife wielder at a gun fight. Only a complete idiot would pursue that avenue.

I submit the polar opposite: For every complaint, there are 10 offenses: A bare minimum of 90% of offenses go unreported due to the facts that: Authorities don't give a shit, doggers are neighborhood bullies backed by the State, and endless propaganda that everyone has to love Fido no matter what.

Yeah, we are all a bunch of cranks and liars and Fido is just absolutely perfect.

Off Leash Lunacy

I often wonder: Do the Doggers really think their consumer product can make its way in the world as well (or better than, as they would like to think) as the rest of us sentient beings? I figure they must, as they let them run off leash at every opportunity.

I spent New Years holiday up in Brevard, NC. I have a little travel trailer I use as a base for day hikes and I stayed in the Davidson River Campground. It was a great week, and I had some friends come out to hike with me.

One of the best hikes in that area is Johns Rock. The Rock's prominence is over 1000 feet (~300 meters) and is probably one of the highest cliffs in the eastern USA. In any case, we had a great hike up to the top. The view from up there is spectacular. It can be a very dangerous place, as many wilderness areas are – the vantage point is a granite outcropping that slopes gently downward at maybe a 1-2 degree angle. Given that it is not at the very top, during cold wet weather water will flow over this granite sheet and FREEZE making it a literal skating rink with a slight downward slant.

Everyone have a good mental picture? Super.

So, after we finish up we stop by the forest ranger's office to get more hike info and BS generally. The ranger tells us that a dog had died on the hike just recently. Apparently, some genius had let his dog off leash up on the Rock, it was running around, hit that ice sheet, and slid over the cliff. This would be roughly equivalent to falling off the Empire State Building. More interesting was the fact that this was NOT the first time something like this had happened!

What is the terminal velocity of a dog? More than fast enough to kill it.

I wonder what the genius owner had been thinking... that Dog is is really God spelled backwards and that a God can defy the laws of gravity? Perhaps after destroying his neighbor's property values and quality of life with his yard barker he figured that that, similar to the laws of man, the laws of nature did not apply to him and his Dog? Perhaps he anticipated that Fido would hang in midair, and even fly like Superman? As we all know, Dog created nature: How could the laws of nature apply to Dog?

All that is irrelevant. What is relevant is, there are a lot of things out there that can kill your dog. Don't believe me? Hang out at the bottom of Johns Rock for a while.... the answer will literally hit you on the head.

You win some, you lose some Part I.

It’s always 3 steps forward and 2 steps back.  Who was the unqualified winner in the Pacific Theater in WW2?  That would be the ALLIES, namely the United States with plenty of help from various allies such as Australia, New Zealand, UK, and others.  However, this was not an easy thing:  We all lost a LOT along the way.  Consider this for a moment… the US Navy’s submarine losses during WW2.   there was plenty of bloody ground lost during that war.

In any war, the losses are terrible, even for the winner.  Sometimes you have to ask yourself… is this worth it?  If you believe so, you soldier on.

I have suffered a colossal loss as well as a crushing win on the Animal Uncontrol front the past few months.   I always start with the bad news first, so here goes…

I stepped up to Chairperson of my local state hiking organization in the beginning of the year.  As I had noted here and here, we have a BIG problem regarding uncontrolled dogs in the woods in my state. 

In any case, after a particularly bad episode regarding an uncontrolled dog, I decided to put my foot down.  There would be NO off leash dogs at any events.  ALL pet nuisances would be reported to both authorities AND property managers immediately.  Last but not least, ALL miscreants would be banned from the organization for good.   Accommodating troublemakers is the kiss of death, and these punks would NOT be accommodated under my regime PERIOD.  I had received many complaints from many people and many folks were threatening to quit the organization. 

Consider that a few folks thought it entertaining to turn their dogs loose to harass wildlife (usually ducks and geese).  Note that this is considered to be poaching under state law and may result in the owner being arrested and sent to prison.   If a state game warden witnesses such an act, the perp WILL be arrested.  

It goes without saying (but I will say it anyway) that anyone who turns their dog loose in the subtropical jungle that comprises this state is dumber than a box of rocks.  I mean, they are so dumb that calling them stupid is an insult to stupid people.   These woods are filled with ALLIGATORS, RATTLESNAKES, WATER MOCCASINS, BEARS, PANTHERS, BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS, and other assorted wild nasties that absolutely DO NOT CARE about your impossibly stupid supremacy arguments!

Back to the political battle.   The entire leadership group was against me, and in fact turned the whole ordeal into an analysis and subsequent character assassination of Yours Truly.  This was not a hill surrendered lightly:  There were daily arguments, threats, screaming matches, fingers in the face… all of this went on for OVER A MONTH. 

I will not compromise my standards.  I would not be part of an organization that uses pets to destroy what we are chartered to protect!

I only have so much fight in me.  In May I submitted my resignation.  The dog nutters  “win” this round.   Of course, what indeed have they won?  They still have the government, property managers, and the public against them.  As I noted above, poaching is a felony in this state and I believe sufficient grounds to shoot a dog.  Partially due to my urgings, the state park service has initiated a pogrom against irresponsible pet owners.  I, and many others, continue to hike “hot”…. Get the point, Fido owners??    Maybe you won THIS round, but stay tuned….

Letter to my neighbor's landlord

Here is the content of the letter I sent to my "dog rescuing" neighbor's landlord.  Note that after this, the nuisances have been few and far between.  In fact, they have been SO good, sometimes I think they gave up their dog!   The yellow lab indicated in the prior letter is long gone.

Its also noteworthy that I managed to STICK it to this guy via the county tax collector.  A little background:  In my state, owner occupants are allowed to deduct up to $50,000 of their  property's assessed value for tax purposes.  For example, if your property is assessed at $200,000 and you occupy it for at least 6 months out of the year, you need only pay taxes on $150,000.  This is usually referred to as a "homestead deduction".

In any case, as I was "investigating" this issue, I learned that the numbskull landlord was claiming a "homestead deduction" while renting out his property to the rescue nincompoops!  I went to the tax collector's office in person and reported him.  The tax collector investigated, removed the deduction and went after him for some steeeeep fines!   GOTCHA!

Mr. Tax Cheat

9990 whatever Blvd.

Anyplace, FL 32999

RE:  Your property at 9990 whatever Blvd.

November 14, 2011

Dear Sir,

The purpose of this letter is to put you on notice of several disruptive, tortious, and illegal activities being committed on and around your property at 9990 whatever Blvd by the tenants to whom you are supposedly renting.

Over the past 18 months those activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

·         Numerous pet related offenses including frequent loud barking of dogs, dogs at large, depositing of dog feces with subsequent failure to scoop, and destruction of property.   This has resulted in numerous complaints to Animal Control by multiple parties.   The loud animals have disrupted my work, my sleep and my other interests.  Note their doing so is in violation of St. Johns County ordinance 89-62.   I sent your tenants a certified letter a year ago regarding the issue (attached). 

·         Bright lights aimed at my home.

·         Loud music.

·         Inappropriate/unsafe discharging of firearms.  Police were called.

·         Hostile, loud, and belligerent activity aimed at myself.   Your tenants apparently take issue with my reporting their offenses to authorities, something I have a right to do.   Basically, I have been *screamed and cursed at* for merely trying to uphold the law and protect my interests.

Juxtapose the above with the fact that I have broken no laws, committed no torts and have always been outwardly polite to them.   Also consider that I am not the sole party complaining to authorities regarding your tenants.

Therefore it is apparent that:

·         Your tenants are degrading the local environment.

·         Your tenants are committing code violations and torts.

·         Your tenants are disregarding the laws.

·         Your tenants are disregarding the right of others to live in peace.

I believe that the above is of keen interest to you because:

·         Your tenants are exposing you to lawsuits and other legal issues.

·         Your tenants are exposing you to issues with your insurance carrier and your lender.

·         Your tenants are exposing you to loss of property value.

Mr. Tax Cheat, you can be held liable in various ways for the activities of your tenants.  Consider the following:

·         You are enabling the various pet offenses, as you have a right to revoke or modify your tenant’s pet privileges.   If that dog is not vaccinated and/or it bites someone you are facing serious civil liability. 

·         Your insurance carrier will likely take issue with these various activities.   You may face premium increases or loss of coverage.

·         Your lender will likely take issue with any and all activity that degrades the value of the property.  Refer to your mortgage agreement and any relevant laws:  They may have the right to “recall” your loan if they have reason to believe the occupant is degrading the value of the property in any way.

·         The activities outlined above have seriously degraded my quality of life and imposed numerous costs on myself.  I am a computer contractor who works from home.  Your tenants have disrupted my work numerous times.  This is a serious civil liability:  I cannot, and will not, allow that to continue and will take whatever steps necessary to return peace to my work space and my home.  

·         If I am forced to move out over this issue (and it may come to that) then that creates an additional civil liability in 2 ways:

o   The owner of THIS property now has an actionable damage.  She has lost a paying tenant AND she is required by law to disclose any “nuisances” to all prospective buyers and tenants, further aggravating that financial hardship.  Furthermore, another empty house in this neighborhood will further degrade local property values including yours.

o   I would have a right to file for and recover any moving and other costs related to my relocation.

·         You have already suffered negative exposure in this situation.  Your “loss” of your property tax homestead deduction is indirectly related to the problems noted above.   Again, your tenants are drawing significant negative attention that is only going to become more costly for everyone the longer it continues.

Mr. Tax Cheat, I insist that you take whatever steps necessary to cure this problem. 

I also insist that you contact me, at my email address above, with your contact phone number and address.

Regards,

John Q Public

Laws of Nature

The following comment was left by “Sweetie Pie” and is definitely food for thought.  Here is part of the comment:

“I just got an email from a close friend. Her cat was lazing around in its own back yard (which this friend owns). The neighbors have a couple of terriers (not mutants, oops, I mean pits), one of which is always raging at the cat. My friend has been extremely accommodating. She actually helped construct a fence that all hoped would keep this other woman's dogs on their own property.

Nope. The terrier SOMEHOW got around the fence and attacked the cat. The cat defended himself. Apparently adequately, because at this moment the terrier (not the cat) is at the vet's getting wounds treated.

Comes the Entitlement frigging shite: The terrier's owner thinks the cat owner -- whose cat was attacked on it's own property by a trespassing dog -- should pay at least half (preferably all) the vet bills.”

I have many thoughts on this issue.

First, on the cat owner:  The cat owner likewise needs to restrict their behavior.  In my opinion, they behaved inappropriately in the following ways:

1)       In a typical suburban or urban setting, cats should be indoor only or walked on a leash.  The world is very dangerous to a house-cat and your cat may be a danger or a hazard to others.  You can’t count on your cat to stay on your land.  These issues include but are not limited to:

a.       People who hate cats.

b.      Cars.

c.       Vicious at large dogs.

d.      Wild animals.

e.      Various environmental hazards, diseases, etc…

f.        Your cat may be a danger to wildlife.

g.       Your cat may deposit urine and feces on other’s property (see (a).

2)      In my honest opinion, your friend should NOT have accommodated the malicious dog owner.  All that does is feed and reinforce their sense of entitlement.  Now, they truly believe that everyone else exists to suit them.  Building that fence was a mistake.   Your friend needs to stop accommodating the dog owner’s bad behavior.  It’s like paying rapists not to rape people.  FAIL.  we put them in jail.  Period!

Second, on the dog owner:  This is where I am in 200% agreement.  The dog owner can suck eggs on this one.  Dog owners who turn their pets loose on others properties are criminals, at large dogs are dangerous and destructive varmints, and both dog owner and dog deserve everything that happens to them in these instances.  Rather than demand payment for vet bills, Fido's owner should be thankful that the cat owner in question did not simply shoot the dog dead.   I am glad the cat tore up the dog and I hope the vet care is REALLY expensive.  GOOD KITTY.

I have another interesting anecdote with the same drift.  About 18 months ago, I had a neighbor ring my doorbell.  It wasn’t someone I knew, lived maybe a block away.  It was a woman in my age group, clearly distraught.  She asks me “did you run over my dog?”.  Apparently, she had let her pug puppy run in the road and it got squashed by a motor vehicle.  Note that my county has a LEASH LAW (unenforced).  I didn’t think I had done so, but figure that a 5000 lb truck vs. a 5 lb dog would hardly be a bump, particularly if it ran under the rear wheels.  I told her that I did not believe so, did the vehicle look like one of mine?  She couldn’t remember(!).  In any case, she was going door to door trying to find the “culprit”.

I didn’t lecture her, but the leash law states that the OWNER is liable for ANYTHING that involves their dog if they let it off leash.  And, I mean ANYTHING:  The other party cannot be sued or charged AND the dog owner is strictly liable for any damages.   Therefore, if you let your dog run in the road and it causes an accident, YOU are 100% liable for the result.  She had no one to blame but herself.   If the incident in question had resulted in damage to the automobile SHE would have been liable for that!  I tell you, the entitlement mentality of these people is truly astonishing. 

What goes around comes around, and irresponsible behavior has real world consequences regardless of your social status.   Do they really think that a truck is going to stop on a dime when they turn their dog loose in the road?  Do they really think that if their dog attacks a human or other animal that it’s going to passively allow that attack to play out?  Let me tell you something, basic physics, cats, etc… REALLY do not give a damn about the entitlement status of dog owners!

This is why I LOVE it when these people get their proverbial asses handed to them.  They might have a lock on the legal system (for now) but they CANNOT repeal the laws of physics or nature!

CONTROL YOUR DOG.

Trouble in Paradise

As I noted in my “Overton” post, the baby may wind up getting thrown out with the bathwater.  I am generally opposed to punishing the many for the actions of the few, BUT when there is a lot at stake, sometimes that is the best solution.

My volunteer work centers around maintaining hiking trails in my state, promoting outdoor activities among the general population, organizing work hikes, promoting and preserving our various outdoor spaces such as State Parks and National Forests.  I am an executive of and an activity leader for my state scenic trail association.

I am a very active supporter of my State Park system and I have working relationships with park rangers and other volunteers at many sites.

This relates to the subject matter at hand because my colleagues and I have noted with some alarm the increase in pet-related problems in the state parks.  We have noted high incidences of the following in the state parks:

-          Frequent, useless, loud barking.

-          Dog poop everywhere.

-          Dogs off leash.

-          Dogs where they are expressly prohibited.

-          Dogs behaving threateningly/dangerously towards people.

-          Dogs harassing wildlife.

-          Dogs destroying park property.

ALL of the above are in direct violation of park rules.  Dogs and related offenses are our #1 complaint!  Note that most people (90%+) do NOT bring their pets to the park, so while there are a large and increasing number of offenses, these offenses are being committed by a relatively small (and easy to identify) population of park goers. 

Consider our 2 main directives:

1)       Preserve the park resources, and

2)      Create and maintain a positive park going experience for the largest number of people.

It is becoming rapidly apparent that allowing dogs into the state parks is contrary to both of those directives and as such is more trouble than it is worth.  No one makes a choice to day trip or camp at a state park so they can listen to someone else’s dog(s) bark the entire time, have dogs lunge and/or chase them, etc….  In this challenging fiscal and political environment, it is absolutely critical that the parks be someplace people CHOSE to go:  High “attendance” is a MUST if we are to maintain these resources.  Once a park guest is harassed into leaving, they will not be coming back AND they will tell their friends and family not to bother going, either.  Each miscreant will drive away many others, and that is a loss we cannot afford.  Moreover, the noise, waste, and dangerous activity is not natural to the environment nor is it useful in any way.

I have engaged our park system director directly and insisted that steps be taken.  I urged some “moderate” and immediate changes that included:  Empowering rangers to write citations; excluding any dog that is obviously badly behaved (ie barks at the ranger in the booth when the owners car pulls up); immediate eviction of any and all miscreants; sternly reminding park guests with dogs of their RESPONSIBILITY to refrain from creating a nuisance; actively patrol; charge additional park fees for pets; etc…

I made the additional request that, if the above changes do not have a profound effect, then dogs be banned completely from the state park system.  This would be an unfortunate step to take, however there is too much at stake to waste time fooling around or playing games.  Bringing ANY animal to a state park is a guest privilege NOT a right.  Note that the park system had a previous ban on dogs (that was lifted in the early 2000’s).  If it was done before, it can be done again.  

I believe the root causes of this problem are:  The complete, utter failure of the pet owning community to self-regulate and a total public policy fail regarding animal control.  If pet owners were “vetted” on the outside, we could be confident that they would not cause a problem in the parks.  However, when someone pulls up to the gate TODAY with a dog, there is some probability that the individual is some self-entitled miscreant.

The problems with off-leash and vicious dogs has become SUCH a problem that I have in fact taken the extreme step of “packing” on all my hikes.   If it gets any worse I’m going to have to terminate my volunteer activities.  Many of my colleagues will do the same. 

This situation has also created a huge liability problem where if a park guest were to be, say, KILLED or seriously injured by a dog it would be devastating to our interests.

Many will say “but you shouldn’t punish the many for the actions of the few”.  Good point, as many dogs in the park are not a problem.  However, we are currently left with attempting to “weed out” the relatively large minority of miscreants AFTER they have offended other guests and damaged our interests.  Moreover, park staff and volunteers have better things to do than constantly battle entitled, irresponsible and malicious dog owners.  I am NOT promoting and maintaining the parks in my spare time FOR FREE so a few nutters can run them into the ground.   We have completely HAD it with these people!

Again, bringing any animal to a state park is a privilege that can be revoked at any time…. We don’t even NEED a reason to throw them all out.   The cheapest, easiest and most productive thing to do would be to simply re-institute the ban.  Of course, dog owners can still visit the park… they just can’t bring their pets with them.