[BCNnet] NY Times article on dogs in nature areas

[Randi Doeker - Chicago]

>From Tuesday's New York Times.

Randi Doeker

 

September 11, 2007


Dogs on the Trail, Even on a Leash, Give Birds a Fright 


By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Dog walking: good for you, good for your pet.

Not so good for birds, apparently.

Australian researchers have found that walking leashed dogs along woodland
paths leads to a significant reduction in the number and diversity of birds
in the area, at least over the short term. 

Peter B. Banks and Jessica V. Bryant of the University of New South Wales
surveyed birds along woodland trails near Sydney shortly after dogs were
walked on them or after people walked alone. All kinds of dogs were
involved, big and small, purebred and mutt. As a control, they also surveyed
birds on trails that no one, human or canine, had recently walked on.

Dr. Banks said the study was an outgrowth of his interest in predator-prey
interactions. "Here you have a predator that is being walked through the
bush quite regularly," he said.

The researchers chose trails in places where dogs were banned and in other
areas where dog walking was common, expecting different results in each. "We
thought that where there was regular dog walking birds would get used to
it," Dr. Banks said. "Well, they didn't."

Regardless of the type of area, dog walking led to a 35 percent reduction in
the number of bird species and a 41 percent reduction in overall bird
numbers, compared with the control. (People walking alone caused some
disturbance, but less than half that caused by people with dogs.)

The study, published in Biology Letters, provides support for park managers
and others on the same side of what can be a heated debate over dogs in
natural areas.

"The problem is there are other uses for an area" besides dog walking, said
Dr. Banks, who described himself as "not a dog hater." "If dogs walk
throughout an area, you're just not going to get the same bird-watching
experience or ecotourism experience."

 

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