National Park in Ontario Urges People To Stop Dumping Pets

​www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/point-pelee-asks-public-to-stop-releasing-domestic-cats-rabbits-and-turtles-into-the-park/ar-AA10qIFp?li=AAggFp5

Point Pelee National Park in Ontario Canada, is urging people to be responsible and stop dumping their pets on the park's grounds. In the past 3 or 4 months, park employees have spotted at least 12 domestic animals that were abandoned at the park; these animals have included cats, rabbits, turtles, and even racoons. The major problem here is that the park is considered a Carolinian forest habitat; rare in Canada, and domestic animals are considered invasive and detrimental to the habitat's well being. 

Domestic animals face unimaginable perils to their survival when dumped in an unfamiliar space. First of all, cats and rabbits specifically are under threat of predation from wild coyotes and are often defenseless against wild predators. Secondly, cats are also incredible hunters and small animals and birds that inhabit the park are at risk of being killed by domestic cats. Considering some of these species are native only to the park, releasing cats is one of the biggest problems a habitat can face as cats are relentless in their hunting and slaughter native wildlife.

On top of all of this, there's the lack of responsibility from pet owners that I think is most unfortunate. Not only is it incredibly irresponsible to abandon your animal, it's especially shameful to do so in an area where they face potential danger and can also cause irreversible danger to an ecosystem. Owning a pet is no different than having a child / adopting, you cannot just throw them away when you no longer want / can care for them. Be responsible folks! There are plenty of avenues to take when considering giving up your fur babies that don't involve selfishly abandoning them in National parks. It's disgusting and a complete disregard for our responsibility as pet owners. 

Pets are family for life. There are only a few circumstances where surrendering your pet is appropriate and abandoning them in public parks is the last thing you should ever do. It saddens me to hear that this is a continued problem and I hope with more attention, people stop doing this. It's so irresponsible and destructive to our native wildlife / habitats.

HAPPY VEG