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While on the subject of dogs, etc... Unfortunate as it is to report, when one is hiking or camping with dogs, many people seem to go out of their way to harass you. Over the past weeks while camping my way home from Arizona, on more than one occasion, my dogs and I were terribly harassed by children who repeatedly circled my van on their bicycles while their parents were within calling distance - this occurred even well after dark. Last autumn, while camped at Samuel de Champlain Park near North Bay, Ontario, I actually had two adult couples ride bicycles through my site after dark, each of them loudly slamming their hands on the side window of my van, just after my dogs and I settled down to sleep for the night. It was very frightening to me and caused my dogs to leap up and bark - which I suppose was the hoped-for effect of their actions. I had done nothing to provoke any of the above - just quietly prepare our evening meal after arriv
On 4/19/2011 2:56 PM, bev wigney wrote:
> In any case, I would urge *everyone* (not just the dog owners) to do their part in trying to be responsible for their own actions and those of their children and pets. When hiking or canoeing, if practical, bring along a trash bag and pack out more than you brought with you. When you see malicious destruction occurring, report it to a ranger or conservation officer. When birding, especially around nesting time, don't harass birds and other wildlife, and please try to be conscious of the vegetation and don't just trample through. It is quite shocking to see how some vegetation can be so quickly destroyed by trampling, and how braided trails created by those who just have to take a short cut or wander to some vantage point to get the best shot of some creature. Wildlife depend on vegetation for cover and the plants themselvesalso deserve our respect. Also, don't forget about the smaller creatures that are sheltered under rocks and logs. If you lift a rock, board or
log to look beneath, carefully set it back in place. When walking in forests or fields, try to avoid tearing up large orb-weaving spider webs - they take a huge amount of time and energy to be constructed and only a second to be rashly destroyed by a passing human who could just as easily have ducked to one side to avoid it. And, as we've been discussing dogs, as a courtesy to those who are hiking with their dogs, and who are probably trying their best to keep their dogs quiet and well under control, don't let your children race ahead screaming and wanting to pet them. Some dogs become upset by the shrieking and screaming and the often unpredictable actions of children (I once had a small child suddenly shove its finger way up the nostril of one of my dogs). When you pass by a dog on a trail, don't stop to pet it without first asking the owner if its okay. Some people (myself among them) try to teach our dogs to ignore hikers, other dogs, animals, etc... and don't a
ctually appreciate people who wish to interact. And, when you see someone camped with their dogs, don't purposefully wander by their site repeatedly, especially when there is an easy alternate route through a campground. The same goes for adults or children wandering into a campsite to "visit" someone's dog. It's a very invasive thing to do, but happens far more often than it should.
* this is why we try not to go into reserves and parks. did you hear the
All in a Day etiquette segment yesterday about the motivation for
littering? I guess I left you off the list for this one:
As we were releasing Wood Fogs on the way to Toronto, we found a full
container of bottled water at Site F in Limerick Forest --
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We need a sonnet about how
the bottled water industry spends the winter
strewing its product and their husks
along the roadsides of Lyn and Limerick.
We need a sonnet about this spring wonder
of casual and heedless litterbug consumerism,
a multi-armed little plastic god
worshiped under the umbrella of the economy.
We need a student to pursue bottlers and strewers
To find out why the product is so often
strewn unconsumed until picked up
by environmentalist recycling wonks.
We need a couplet that tries to comprehend:
"What message is the litter industry trying to send?"
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* have you and Aleta been negotiating a time when we can get together
before you get away to NS, or we get away to SW Ontario?
fred.
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Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
now in the field on the Thirty Years Later Expedition -
http://fragileinheritance.org/projects/thirty/thirtyintro.htm
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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