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Dogs Must Remain On-Leash At Bull Creek District Park

Austin Parks and Recreation decides to make Bull Creek District Park an "on-leash" park
Image by KUT News
Austin Parks and Recreation decides to make Bull Creek District Park an "on-leash" park

Austin's Parks and Recreation Department has decided that Bull Creek District Park will continue to be an on-leash facility for dogs.

A leash requirement was put in place on a trial basis last summer, after fecal contamination was discovered in Bull Creek.  After analyzing results, they concluded that the off-leash dog use was the most likely source of the contamination.

“When you have dogs on-leash and they go to the bathroom, the owner will pick up the feces.  But when they are off-leash and defecate, the owner does not know if they have used the bathroom or not and does not pick it up”, said Parks and Recreation spokesman Victor Ovalle.

He said the department expects that some people won't be happy with this new, permanent rule.

“But we have the responsibility to put public safety above everything else," Ovalle said.

Parks and Recreation staff says they'll keep searching for another site where dogs can roam off-leash.

--Reported by Ioli Campos

Ian Crawford joined KUT as News Editor in 2008, after spending over four years as a reporter/anchor at KLBJ Radio in Austin. He began his broadcasting career while still in high school in Southern Oregon. During high school and college at the University of Oregon, he worked at times as a reporter, news anchor, sports play-by-play reporter, music host and commercial producer before moving to Texas in 2003.
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