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LETTER: Dog owners, sports fields are not your own personal off-leash parks

It’s shocking that during COVID-19, dog owners carry on as usual, disregarding laws that don’t suit them
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Submitted photos taken from March 23 to May 1 in Surrey show dog owners allowing their dogs to roam and play – and even do their business on – using sports fields, despite signs clearly stating dogs are prohibited.

The Editor,

Dogs are prohibited on athletic fields everywhere to protect the health and welfare of the athletes who use the fields. Why do dog owners purposefully disregard the welfare of those athletes and others who use the fields for their intended purpose?

It’s shocking that during the COVID-19 crisis, when people are expected to raise their social consciousness and take actions to protect the health of other people, that dog owners carry on as usual, disregarding laws that don’t suit them.

Dog owners who use athletic fields for their own private off-leash dog park and dog toilet, are breaking municipal laws. I see more than 35 dogs a week on the South Surrey Athletic fields at 20th and 148 Street. Things are as bad or worse at Sunnyside Park. Thirty-five dogs equal 35 piles of defecated excrement on the fields and and urine everywhere.

I know people think it is convenient to use the local sports field, that driving to the dog park adds unnecessary carbon to global warming, and that their dog is perfect. But owning a dog carries responsibilities to the environment, to your city and to other people.

We don’t spread human waste on sports fields or send it to the landfill for obvious reasons. Dog turds are worse.

Obey the laws and leave the athletic fields to the athletes.

A Brown, Surrey



edit@surreynowleader.com

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