Outdoors

When dogs confront wildlife at the cottage what should be done?

Fox in forest Photo by Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock

When dogs confront wildlife at the cottage what should be done? Can animals wandering the property be trapped and removed?

What you should remove for a time out are the dogs. It’s actually against the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of Ontario to let your dogs run at large in the woods or along your shoreline for the very reason that they’ll harass the wildlife, often disrupting breeding or rearing of young. Teach dogs to come when they’re called, check up on them frequently, and bring them inside if they’re making life miserable for a wild critter. Other reasons to keep your pets under your control are that they could become lost, bring home nasty diseases such as rabies, or get themselves injured. (Sadly, pet owners sometimes discover the hard way that there is a trapline in their area).

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