Wildlife Trust urge pet owners to keep dogs on leads after animal deaths
The Wildlife Trust Beds, Cambs and Northants have made the appeal following incidents involving animals being disturbed, and a sheep being killed.
Pet owners are being urged to keep their animals on leads in our nature reserves.
The Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants have made the plea following the deaths of animals disturbed by loose dogs.
The Trust say they have taken the difficult decision to publish an image of a sheep which was killed by loose dog at Pegsdon Hills reserve in Bedfordshire recently despite clear signage that dogs must be kept on a lead at all times.
Other incidents relating to loose dogs recently include:
A small dog killed by a larger dog off a lead at Trumpington Meadows in Cambridge
A reserve officer injured by a loose dog at Waresely Wood in Cambridgeshire whilst working
A visitor bitten by a dog at Beechwoods reserve near Cambridge
Staff receiving verbal abuse and intimidation from dog owners when asked to put dogs on a lead
"100% possible for responsible dog owners to come to nature reserves"
In the Nene Valley Special Protection Area (SPA) – a designated landscape area that covers our Nene Wetlands, Summer Leys and Titchmarsh nature reserves the Trust has recently employed an officer whose job involves engaging with dog walkers. The area has seen a growing number of incidents of dogs causing disturbances and there are areas where birds are not nesting year on year despite good habitat available for them.
A recent study carried out in the Nene Valley found that dogs off leads were four times more likely to cause disturbance than dogs on leads.
The study recorded 4,937 visits to key locations in the SPA. In total, visits by dogs off leads led to a disturbance event in 19% of instances and dogs on leads in 4.5% of instances. The study recorded 619 disturbance events and found that dogs off leads were the most common cause of bird disturbance, leading to 42% of all disturbance events, compared to dogs on leads which led to 3% of all disturbances.
Lara Jones is the Trusts Special Protection Area engagement officer.
She says the incidents are in line with a big increase in dog ownership since the pandemic with one in three households now owning a dog:
"It's correlating with that increase in in just dog ownership generally specifically since the pandemic, we have seen a an increase in dog attacks on not only our livestock, but on other people on our nature reserves and on other dogs in fact as well. So, it's not just for the wildlife that we ask people to keep their dogs on leads and to and to act responsibly."
She says dogs can disturb animals like migratory species of birds which they are trying to reintegrate into our reserves.
"These birds travel an extraordinary distance, and they need to they need to store up a lot of energy to be able to get back there (Siberia) So it is vital that they're not repeatedly disturbed."
Lara's urging dog owners not only to keep their pets on leads, but to clean up after their dogs and take that away with them, as dog fouling can also contaminate the reserves.