Dog owners need a massive wake up call to be respectful of our community.
There are many elderly and disabled people within this community, as well as very young children.
Having your dog off-leash is dangerous for us. I’ve had a lot of people in the community voicing their discomfort at the amount of off-leash dogs running around the streets and nature reserves.
I’m an older woman with disabilities. If I get knocked or need to abruptly move, it can cause significant damage to my body and severe pain.
I have lived in the area for over 20 years. I have had countless dogs running towards me when I’ve been by the river or going grocery shopping.
The dog owners are most often a far distance away or nowhere in sight. This is a threat to many people’s physical safety.
Some people within this community are also terrified of dogs, or are extremely allergic. They shouldn’t be forced to defend themselves just for walking down the street in their own community.
Every Friday I watch countless dogs taken to the Mullumbimby Farmers Market regardless of the signs asking people not to bring them.
When people voice their concern to the dog owners there has been so much hostility.
The streets are consistently littered with excrement and the dogs are urinating all over the walls and seats outside of cafes.
The dogs are being tied up at entrances to shops and even on the handrail for disabled/elderly people outside of the doctor’s surgery.
What are we supposed to do? These dog owners are making spaces inaccessible for people in my situation.
It wasn’t too long ago here that dogs were few and far between. We were a community of rainforest loving hippies that strived for a better world.
We put our love and attention into looking after and preserving native wildlife and their ecosystems. Now when I venture into the hills I see people’s off-leash pet dogs running rampant on the roads through what is some of the last rainforest left in the world.
This area has some of the most pristine ecosystems left. We must preserve the remaining rainforest and the native wildlife that lives within it.
I really want our community to be aware of the impact that dogs are having in the Shire.
Please be respectful.
If you have a pet dog take responsibility and be accountable for the impact this has on people within the community and the natural environment.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
