For Safety Reasons:
- Unsupervised dogs can interact with hazardous plants such as poison ivy.
- They may encounter wildlife such as skunks, porcupines or coyotes that can cause injury and/or illness
- Pets can catch diseases or parasites such as Rabies (through infected wildlife) or Lyme Disease (from ticks)
For Conservation
- Ongoing research and art projects hosted at rare can be impacted by unsupervised dogs.
- Dog waste can carry diseases and parasites which can spread to local wildlife.
- Just the scent of a dog can stress local wildlife, forcing them to look for new habitats.
- Off-leash pets can trample sensitive and at-risk plants and spread invasive plant seeds.
For Accessibility and Inclusion
- It is the law in the City of Cambridge that all dogs must be leashed in public (with the exception of service dogs)
- Everyone visiting rare‘s trails deserves to feel welcome and safe.
- Excited dogs can knock some trail users off-balance.
- Some trail users and their pets may be uncomfortable around unleashed dogs.
Visit our Dog-Friendly Trails:
These are the ECO Centre Trail, Grand Allee, Maple Lane and Deer Run. The Grand Trunk Trail is maintained and operated by the City of Cambridge. All other trails are dog-free zones.
Did You Know…?
- That the presence of humans and dogs on trails can have impacts on local wildlife up to one kilometre away?
- That topical flea treatments have been linked to the pollution of water sources as the treatment can be washed off up to a month after applied? Even a small amount can be deadly to large numbers of insects; one teaspoon is enough to kill 1.25 billion honey bees!
- That dog waste should always be disposed of properly in the trash. If not picked up, it can spread parasites and diseases to local wildlife. Doggie bags that aren’t properly disposed of can take hundreds of years to break down, even if marketed as “biodegradable”.
- That conservation, research, art and education projects at rare can be impacted by unleashed dogs?
- Echinococcus multilocularis is a parasitic tapeworm that can infect dogs when they eat infected rodents or feces. It can then be passed onto humans. Infection causes large cysts in the liver and lungs. The tapeworm is difficult to detect and often fatal.
- Dog walking in woodland areas can lead to a reduction of bird populations up to 41% and a reduction of up to 35% in bird diversity.