Dog Walks 'prompting bird flight'

[Wildwood]

Dog walks 'prompting bird flight'

Taking your dog for a walk could be having an impact on local birdlife, a study suggests.
An Australian team found dog-walking was prompting birds to take flight, causing numbers to plummet by 41%.

The researchers, writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, said the birds were fleeing because they viewed the dogs as potential predators.

Charity Birdlife International said the longer-term effects of the dogs' presence now needed to be looked at.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Dog walks 'prompting bird flight'

I saw this on BBC news today and I had no idea that dogs may possibly cause problems for birdlife. I'm not a dog ownwer so I'd be interested to know if those of you that have dogs have noticed a reduction in bird numbers in popular dog walking areas.

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by Wildwood

Dog walks 'prompting bird flight'

Taking your dog for a walk could be having an impact on local birdlife, a study suggests.
An Australian team found dog-walking was prompting birds to take flight, causing numbers to plummet by 41%.

The researchers, writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, said the birds were fleeing because they viewed the dogs as potential predators.

Charity Birdlife International said the longer-term effects of the dogs' presence now needed to be looked at.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Dog walks 'prompting bird flight'

I saw this on BBC news today and I had no idea that dogs may possibly cause problems for birdlife. I'm not a dog ownwer so I'd be interested to know if those of you that have dogs have noticed a reduction in bird numbers in popular dog walking areas.

Oh im not suprised by this at all..Im not a dog owner...infact im about as anti dog/dog walkers as you can get...Im planning to do my dissertation on this exact problem.

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Oh im not suprised by this at all..Im not a dog owner...infact im about as anti dog/dog walkers as you can get...Im planning to do my dissertation on this exact problem.

I don't know about other people, I can only speak for myself and my experience, but I have two largish dogs that need regular exercise. I walk these dogs every day and as far as I am aware they do not disturb birds or other wildlife unduly. I often take the camera wih me when I walk the dogs and the birds in the hedgerows seem oblivious to the fact that the dogs are there. The birds don't take flight when they see them. This could be due to the fact that we use a regular route and the birds are used to seeing them. Also I might add my dogs are well trained and don't go charging around the countryside unchecked.
Just my personal view on this
Roger

[demicav]

I have two small dogs and they do not disturb birds, I wouldn't allow it. Maybe some do though, like the strays that the dog catcher can't be bothered to pick up, or those dogs whose owners idea of giving them exercise is to kick them out of the front door every morning.

[Oscar2006]

My dog will sit quietly with me while I'm taking photo's of birds, butterflies and dragonflies, so she is not responsible for any decreases.

But I'm sure that Mr & Mrs chavalot will let their animals run along the shoreline flushing thousands of waders, disturb the nesting Swans down the Reccy" and have no idea that they are causing a problem!

[buzfuz8149]

before this thread becomes too hot to handle (it has all the hallmarks) I would like to say that most birds will come into my garden with dog and sometimes dogs, I watch from the conservatory and the moment I step out (taking into account I am the provider of the feast) they take flight.
Even on a dog less walk we frighten the local wildlife, why else would we be using big lenses that allow us to capture them.?
I certainly would never allow my dog to disturb any wildlife deliberately. I can't say that about some of the people I have met on my walks. One stands out - a man with what I took to be his two young sons, showing them how to throw stones at the ducks.


Just my point of view.

Carol.

[demicav]

Originally Posted by buzfuz8149

before this thread becomes too hot to handle (it has all the hallmarks) I would like to say that most birds will come into my garden with dog and sometimes dogs, I watch from the conservatory and the moment I step out (taking into account I am the provider of the feast) they take flight.
Even on a dog less walk we frighten the local wildlife, why else would we be using big lenses that allow us to capture them.?
I certainly would never allow my dog to disturb any wildlife deliberately. I can't say that about some of the people I have met on my walks. One stands out - a man with what I took to be his two young sons, showing them how to throw stones at the ducks.


Just my point of view.

Carol.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[mrs fish]

I also walk my dog in wild places the birds aren't not any more frightened of the dog than they are of me.

[Vixen]

I think there something about this in the BBC Wildlife magazine.

I will add it is not the dog's falt it is the owners, if an owner had the sence to keep there dog on a lead and under control most of these anti dog descussions would never happen.

I own a Golden Retriever he will sit with me to watch wildlife, and although good off lead, I don't let him off, mostly due to the fact he has pysical problems that don't alow him to run for long.

I find that nothing more satterfing than giving your dog a good walk with you dog on a lead together, not with your dog half a mile across a field.

As A kean dog lover that study dog behaviour ect.. I no it is inportant for a dog to exsercise, but for dog owners to go off on one, because they can't let there dog off it lead, when sometimes there no need to do so, is just silly.

[paulchandler6]

Originally Posted by Wildwood

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Dog walks 'prompting bird flight'

I saw this on BBC news today and I had no idea that dogs may possibly cause problems for birdlife. I'm not a dog ownwer so I'd be interested to know if those of you that have dogs have noticed a reduction in bird numbers in popular dog walking areas.

I dont have a dog, but I can imagine it would not be a problem anymore than birds reacting to any predator. I certainly have not noticed a problem. As with most dog problems I feel its down to the owner. Cheers

[juliejam]

I have a dog and go for walks everyday in park and woodland areas..
As we stick to the pathways and my dog is never really out of my slight , i dont feel she distrubs the wildlife any more than myself...

But if one chooses to walk off the beaten track and with regularity then i feel this may cause a distrubance to the wildlife...

Julie

[Kymba]

I have two dogs and can see this thread getting quite heated in the not to near future.
most people who care about wildlife will do everything possible to stop their dogs scaring or chasing wildlife, but no matter how i try my two insist on catching flies and wasps..

But another thought for you How about children and adults of varying ages who have no interest in any form of wildlife who constantly charge through fields and woods etc terrifying any thing that is with in their path also destroying Plants, trees, bushes..
Do something about these first.. Stop picking constantly on Dogs and their owners !!!

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Kymba

I have two dogs and can see this thread getting quite heated in the not to near future.
most people who care about wildlife will do everything possible to stop their dogs scaring or chasing wildlife, but no matter how i try my two insist on catching flies and wasps..

But another thought for you How about children and adults of varying ages who have no interest in any form of wildlife who constantly charge through fields and woods etc terrifying any thing that is with in their path also destroying Plants, trees, bushes..
Do something about these first.. Stop picking constantly on Dogs and their owners !!!

Hear hear well said Kymba
Roger

[Tormentil]

I can't for the life of me see how walking either with or without a dog, can effect bird numbers.

Like a previous poster pointed out, birds on our feeders take flight when we wander round the garden, but they do return.

Perhaps this "Australian Team" had some surplus funds that needed spending on anything rather than have the next budget cut.

[stripee]

It depends what time of year and where you are walking....out in the countryside between March to July roughly it's better not to let dogs run about too much because of birds nesting. Also dog poos can have worms in them if not regularly wormed and that other toxi thing that I can't remember how to spell that can transmit to wildlife and livestock.

[Wildwood]

Originally Posted by Kymba

I have two dogs and can see this thread getting quite heated in the not to near future.

I do hope not, it wasn't my intention to start a thread that may cause trouble when I posted the link. I didn't mean to imply that anyone here is an irresponsible dog owner and should have made that clear in the post.

[naturelover]

Originally Posted by Kymba

I have two dogs and can see this thread getting quite heated in the not to near future.
most people who care about wildlife will do everything possible to stop their dogs scaring or chasing wildlife, but no matter how i try my two insist on catching flies and wasps..

But another thought for you How about children and adults of varying ages who have no interest in any form of wildlife who constantly charge through fields and woods etc terrifying any thing that is with in their path also destroying Plants, trees, bushes..
Do something about these first.. Stop picking constantly on Dogs and their owners !!!

how right you are kymba, dogs dont do any halm but humans do,there the ones to blame,boys breaking trees, throwing stones at defensless birds,little kids chasing pigeons this i have seen many times with the mum and dad standing there laughing,they should be told at a young age to pespect the wildlife then perhaps we wouldnt have all this cruelty going on.

[Cotham Marble]

A description of the research can be found in the current New Scientist - the intro paragraphs are as follows:

Magazine issue 2620
It is sure to send wings a-flapping and tails a-sagging. Even when owners walk their dogs on leashes they still manage to frighten off nearly half the birds in natural parklands.

Land managers in several countries, including the UK and Australia, have responded to birders' worries that dogs may be scaring local wildlife by banning the animals from sensitive wild areas. But dog-owners maintain there is little hard evidence to support this view, and are angry over such bans.

So Peter Banks and Jessica Bryant at the University of New South Wales in Sydney tested the effect of dogs on bird sightings at 90 different sites in both regional parks where dogs are allowed on a leash and in neighbouring national parks, where dogs are banned. They used two "treatments" - a person walking alone and a person with a dog.

No matter what individuals report -"my dog doesn't frighten birds" etc, it is only thorough and controlled research that can tell us what is actually happening. The idea that the presence of a predator has no effect on a potential prey species is nonsensical - of course whether the effect is damaging is quite another question. The Banks and Bryant research appears entirely sound and certainly it is something that Wildlife Site managers are going to have to take into account.

CM

[Hobjob]

I've not tracked down the actual article on the web, but I have carefully
read the telegraph scientific writer's precis which seems good reporting
not tabloid jounalism.

Dog-walking 'can harm wildlife' - Telegraph

Sometimes good science produces results that are non-intuitive
and are hard to accept, especially when they go against are long
held opinions and beliefs.

The minor, but definitite harm of HRT given long term, was a
classic case from medicine.

What the aussies have found may be another such uncomfortable
finding - though of course it was in australia, and the effects were
greatest in ground nesting birds - not many of which now exist in UK.

I just make a plea that the information is read properly and carefully,
and avoid knee jerk reactions - clearly similar research in UK would
be useful to clarify the situation for this country. But from the information
so far presented it does seem that dogs with humans have a greater
effect than humans on their own 50m to the side of a path.

Saying that your dog does not do this is not science, unless you conduct
a proper trial as the Aussies seem to have done.



Extract from the Telegraph
===================

In the new study the team controlled dog walking at 90 sites in woodland on the urban fringe of Sydney and monitored the responses of many kinds of birds, one of the key wildlife groups at risk from disturbance, when presented with walkers with dogs, walkers without dogs and a control (no walkers or dogs).

The sites included those where dog walking was permitted and frequent, where birds may have become used to dogs, and national park sites, where dog walking was prohibited. They also used a range of dog sizes and breeds and a range of different walkers, and dogs were kept on leads.

Observers monitored all native birds seen or heard within 50 metres of a 250-metre trail. Monitoring commenced 20 seconds after the walker/dog-walker had set off and continued for 10 minutes.

"Dog walking caused a 41 per cent reduction in the numbers of bird individuals detected and a 35 per cent reduction in species richness compared with untreated controls," they concluded. "Humans walking alone also induced some disturbance but typically less than half that induced by dogs."

Ground dwelling birds such as painted button-quails, the fairy wrens and finches appeared most affected; 50 per cent of the species recorded in control sites were absent from dog-walked sites, he told the Daily Telegraph.

This was of concern because it could lead to a "cascade" of behavioural changes that could further threaten these species, Dr Banks said.

Even for birds which did not flee the site, there were 76 per cent fewer individuals within 10 yards of the trail when dog walking occurred compared with control sites, suggesting that birds were seeking refuge.

"These results reveal that even dogs restrained on leads can disturb birds," they conclude, confirming the need for them not to be walked in sensitive bushland and conservation areas. "The effect occurs even in areas where dog-walking is common and where they are prohibited, indicating that birds don't become accustomed to continued disturbance by dogs," said Dr Banks.

[demicav]

Originally Posted by Kymba

I have two dogs and can see this thread getting quite heated in the not to near future.
most people who care about wildlife will do everything possible to stop their dogs scaring or chasing wildlife, but no matter how i try my two insist on catching flies and wasps..

But another thought for you How about children and adults of varying ages who have no interest in any form of wildlife who constantly charge through fields and woods etc terrifying any thing that is with in their path also destroying Plants, trees, bushes..
Do something about these first.. Stop picking constantly on Dogs and their owners !!!

Hear, hear, from me too Kimba. How right you are. In fact, when I'm out taking pics of wildlife I'm constantly moaning about the great unwashed of society, those who throw rubbish in rivers, trample through bushes, I've even seen bags of rubbish tossed up high in trees, right where there are nests. The worst kind are those that encourage their youngsters to follow in their irresponsible footsteps.
I can honestly say that we can go out as a family including 3 children and 2 dogs, and we do not disturb any wildlife at all. The dogs only run off the lead in certain areas and the children have the upmost respect for anything that has a single living cell. The majority of dog owners are responsible so it would be nice if not everyone was tarred with the same brush. Also dogs on leads don't disturb wildlife any more than people do walking by. My back garden is full of a wide variety of birds and despite having two dogs bird numbers are increasing for me.

[Kayleigh]

Cats do more harm to wildlife and birds than dogs ever will. This is a load of rubbish. I have a thriving bird population in my garden thanks to the dog scaring the cats off.

[jdurbo]

I too agree with Naturelover, Kymba and Kayleigh.. Well said!

jen xxx

[Kymba]

Originally Posted by Wildwood

I do hope not, it wasn't my intention to start a thread that may cause trouble when I posted the link. I didn't mean to imply that anyone here is an irresponsible dog owner and should have made that clear in the post.

I didn't mean you were causing it with your thread.. Its good to debate and discuss things..
But certain subject can at times get a bit heated..But most of us do know when to pull back to stop this happening.. So keep on posting