“When birds see a dog, they see a predator.”
Naturalist Chris Packham is pleading with dog owners to keep their pets on a lead during bird breeding season.
The BBC Springwatch presenter told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that when a dog disturbs a bird on the nest it an abandon its eggs.
Not to excuse dogs in any way but free roaming cats are vastly more successful predators and a bigger threat to native animals.
I always keep my dog on a lead… but if we both spot a pigeon we chase that flappy bastard together.
Dog owners won’t care .
I’ll bring it up at the next meeting.
Responsible ones will. Unfortunately they’re not that common
They aren’t the one that need to hear it.
Eh, plenty of new dog owners out there. Someone who wants to be responsible might not know it. Relevant xkcd
My perspective is from the USA. Here you would pretty much have to be willfully ignorant of the leash laws that are near ubiquitous to not know you should have them leashed whether you know why or not.
Is it different in the UK?
Yeah, it’s pretty different in the UK. Different towns, different parks, and different areas of parks, can all have their own rules.
Take this confusing sign for example which caught lots of dog walkers out:
