Send your letter to the editor via email to news@summerlandreview.com. Please included your first and last name, address, and phone number.

Send your letter to the editor via email to news@summerlandreview.com. Please included your first and last name, address, and phone number.

LETTER: Dogs and cats should both be licenced equally in Port Alberni

Owners need to pick up after their dogs when walking on city property, says writer

To the Editor,

Re: Victoria Quay walkway should not be used as dogs’ toilet, Letters, Sept. 2, 2020

I am up in age and was taught from an early age to pick up after our dogs. It is a habit that once learned is not forgotten. I do not and will not pick up after other inconsiderate pet owners. That enables the offenders to keep offending.

And as for the dog park, I certainly won’t use the dog park until they get two sites, one for small dogs and one for the larger dogs; and even then I will have to think twice before using the park. Many owners are incapable of bending over and picking up after their dogs.

When I first wrote my opinions regards dogs and cats a few weeks ago the point was lost on many. It’s also about equality. Dog owners are charged a licensing fee depending on sex, neutered or not. Cat owners walk away scott free. I now suggest that cat owners be charged a fee. Fair is fair. Also, both species should be microchipped.

Just think of all the money that now can be used to help clean up dog feces.

And as for the owners who let their dogs run loose up at Kitsuksis Dyke and leave their droppings, shame on them. That is one of the reasons I found somewhere else to walk without the fear of my dogs being attacked as all too often, the dogs are unleashed and just looking for trouble.

Anyway, hopefully this will make people aware that dogs need to be controlled—or maybe that should be owners—and hopefully the city will leave more poop bags available for those who can’t remember to stick one or two in their pockets “just in case.”

Carole Walker,

Port Alberni

Alberni Valley News