After last week's tasering of a dog walker by a park ranger south of San Francisco, I thought of park rangers and how they have changed over the years.
I loved hiking as a Boy Scout years ago. Our troop would hike in the mountains and the park rangers, we would come across, were manning the look-out towers for fires and patrolling the forest for problems and to help those in trouble.
These days, in California at least, I see a different attitude. Here is a note I sent to a friend down in Australia after he came across one of the "dog hater" rangers.
"Some park rangers and hunting dogs have a tough time with each other.
Many rangers are hunters themselves and when we come across them on our walks, they just smile and enjoy watching the dogs do what nature in-grained in them to do.
I must admit in four years Bailey and Chloe have killed wildlife. In our thousands of miles of open space walking, they have caught a total of 3 ground squirrels (out of a population of 10,000).
Many rangers understand that true hunters are the most nature concerned people around and are very active in helping conserve the great outdoors. These rangers love to talk about wildlife and
" how man relates to the wild."
But then these rangers also have to deal with the jerks that go out drinking and shooting animals just to kill them, or the slobs who leave their garbage in nature expecting someone else is going to clean it up.
These are the stupid people that true rangers want to stop. Most of them understand and try to do just that. They are my heroes.
Then you have some rangers that became rangers to
"save nature from mankind."
They sit in the booths at state parks at the entrances, or walk along with their citation books in their "Disneyland-like nature theme parks", and dictate the rules and regulations to enter their kingdom.
(Thinking of Bambi.)
Hunting breed dogs in "their park" might endanger one of nature's creatures. Their thought process; "The only good dog is no dog".
Unfortunately there are becoming two factions even in the dog world.
Dog lovers and dog haters.
The dog haters relate to dogs as what is wrong with man and join groups like PETA and HSUS.
So, Ozkar, you got the "dog hater" ranger.
Arguing with them is like trying to pick up your dog's poop from the clean end.
Happy trails. We are off pheasant hunting this morning."
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