Claws out over dog off-leash areas
A group of passionate dog owners will continue to lobby Bunbury City Council to allow their animals to roam freely at Hay Park.
Spokeswoman Gaye North said the council ignored her plea at Tuesday night's council meeting for the sporting ground to be declared an off-leash area.
The issue was clearly the most contentious on the agenda, attracting at least 30 minutes of debate and discussion.
Seven parks and reserves in Bunbury, including Pelican Point and the eastern side of Queens Gardens, have been opened up as off-leash dog exercise areas to compensate for the loss of Hay Park and three other football ovals.
Councillors did not vote in favour of a proposal to allow Hay Park to become an off-leash area except when sporting events were held.
Mayor Gary Brennan and Deputy Mayor Brendan Kelly were concerned this situation would be impossible for council rangers to enforce.
Dogs will be allowed on some parts of Hay Park without a leash for five hours a day but will be banned near the South West Sports Centre. The council has created a fenced-off dog exercise area at Lions Park.
During the meeting, Cr Betty McCleary said dog owners needed as many areas as possible for their dogs to exercise.
"Dogs are not our whole life but they make our life whole," she said.
After the vote, Ms North said the owners would continue to fight for their dogs to be allowed to roam without a leash at Hay Park.
"We could still lobby our councillors and ask them why they don't listen to us," she said.
The review of dog exercise areas was forced on the council because of changes to the State Government legislation.
The new law states that the council can only allow dogs to roam off-leash in designated areas or ban them in areas it owns or controls.
Because of this change, Mindalong Beach and a portion of Hartley Anderson Park have become on-leash areas but the council is looking to rectify this situation.
Council Community Law, Safety and Emergency Management manager John Kowal said the change to dog exercise areas was effective immediately.
"Council rangers will be focussing on education in on-leash areas to ensure owners are aware of changes," he said.
The shake-up of Bunbury's dog exercise areas was heavily scrutinised by the public and received hundreds of submissions during a near 12-month consultation period.
