To tell couple off in park?

[TLOAS]

Walking through the park this morning. It’s a lovely park with lots of woodland but big open grass area in the centre and home to lots of wildlife. The squirrels were running round this morning when I see one couple stopped with their dog who was pulling on the lead while looking at a squirrel. The couple, fully aware of this, lean down and upclip the lead and dog pelts at the squirrel.

I shout over, I say shout but it was a little windy and about 20ft away, and say why would you do that? They asked do what so I said “why would you purposely take the dog off the lead knowing it was going to chase the squirrel?” They shouted back some nonsense about it only being a squirrel and that their dog is only small and to mind my own business.

WIBU to tell them that the size of their dog doesn’t entitle them to purposely release it on a squirrel and terrorise wildlife?

Im guessing so the bird can be shot 😂
Ridiculous

I assume everyone here saying that the couple were arseholes are vegetarians or vegans

It's dogs doing as nature intended. Hardly ridiculous.

Plus, fresh game is incredibly tasty.

This has absolutely nothing to do with wanton cruelty. Dogs may chase animals but to deliberately allow is a rotten choice.

They're an invasive species that have decimated red squirrel numbers, I can't get too protective of them. Especially as dogs can't climb trees.

No but you can be prosecuted for allowing your dog to cause distress to wildlife

Can't believe it took 6 pages before someone came out with this.

We're slacking MNers!!!

Yes.

Do you think the chickens, cows, pigs etc that are killed to make the food we eat simply line up and conveniently die of natural causes to be turned into nuggets, burgers and sausages?

This is animal cruelty and illegal. Good for you OP for telling them off. Not the point that the squirrel can outrun a dog, the stress it can cause is great.
Shame on the posters to say otherwise

Yanbu it's a horrible thing to do to intentionally set your pet on another animals. Only cruel people do that.

It sounds like you're suggesting causing any and all animals distress is absolutely fine then.

Im sure you're not though, as that would be quite unhinged.

And yet farmers go out shooting bunnies/rats/squirrels, plus there’s the rat packs you can hire who go and chase/kill pests. Grey squirrels are pests, they’ve virtually eradicated our native reds.

I’d be wary of tackling anyone who behaves like this, you never know if they’re aggressive/obviously unreasonable. Some people don’t act the way you hope they will: were you expecting them to be contrite and immediately recall the dog?

Red or grey squirrel? Red id go nuclear on anyone deliberating trying to kill the, grey id prob have shouted same as you. Reds are protected as they are native whereas greys are classed as immigrant vermin, they arent the same species and cannot live alongside each other. Greys will attack and kill reds just for fun hence why theres so much protection for the reds, especially in Scotland.

You're going to be really angry when you hear about domestic cats and birds, OP.

You know humans are animals too, right? So why not just let dogs chase and bite small children?

Your logic is excellent :).

No, dogs should never be off lead in public spaces. End of. Take them to one of the secure spaces that exist for an off lead run around.

Yeah, I hate it when people deliberately allow animals to go to abbatoirs to be murdered

They definitely laugh when their kids scare animals. It's just a mentality thing.

I don't blame my friend for letting her dog out and it catching a rabbit. But the ensuing mess and upset that it caused the children was quite strong, it didn't just kill it, it tore it to pieces which wasn't fun.

I wasn't suggesting this was preventable, I'm suggesting that what the couple did in the park was preventable and given you don't know how these things will end, best prevent them.

I also have a friend whose previously squirrel chasing dog now has to be walked with a muzzle as it attacked a very small dog, there are so many tiny dogs now, I would not be encouraging a dog with a high prey drive to run after small animals, it's just horrible behaviour. Not very nice people like ratting or rabbiting with dogs, the rest of us have moved on.

We shoot (mostly rabbits) which we eat. We have a lab who picks them up for us. We don't go deliberately letting him off the lead to harass and chase wildlife.

I've never experienced a domestic cat being purposely set on a bird - what circles do you move in?? If you know cat owners who do this I'd suggest they are quite weird individuals and you should distance yourself.

Just wondering where all the “omg no not scaring an animal” people would draw the line really, out of curiosity.

1 squirrel in a public park that runs up a tree and comes to no harm- OUTRAGE, Mumsnet thread, ring the police and prosecute IMMEDIATELY !!

500 chickens brutally murdered to stock your McDonalds with nuggets… I didn’t see that thread? Interesting to know the moral difference really, in your own justification.

I point them out to my chihuahuas. We have resident squirrels in the garden who run all along the back fence over the garden room up the trees and I swear they actually wait for dogs and run backwards and forward-giving in the finger. We've been here over 10 years as have the squirrels pretty sure if they really didn't like it they wouldn't stay there's plenty of other big gardens for them to go in. My old terrier caught a couple of rats but he never even came close to catching squirrels.

I think people widely miss the point. The comparison with working dogs here is based on a misunderstanding. Spaniels do not hunt, flush, catch and kill on their own, they work under handler command. They hunt (on command), they flush and sit steady, the bird flies upwards and the gun takes his shot. If he makes contact with the bird, he will send the dog to retrieve the bird.

There is no unclipping of the lead whilst the dog goes wild at the end of it in a public park. It is controlled, the dog is under control of its handler and acts on command not on impulse - they actually have impulse control!

What happens when that dog takes after a bird/ squirrel/ small furry and runs out into the road in pursuit of said small animal? There could be real damage/ danger to not only the dog but also to anyone who needs to emergency stop to prevent collision with the dog. The whole thing is so far beyond what we see as acceptable - it’s not a “townie view” and has nothing to do with being vegan!