National Parks Not Allowing Dogs

National Parks in the US do not allow dogs to be allowed in their parks except for Sleeping Bear Dunes. There are 59 protected National Parks and only one out of those 59 allows dogs to be allowed on the premises. The rule of banning dogs should be kept in National Parks. When people go hiking on trails a majority of those people will allow their dogs to be off leash and most dogs will run straight to the woods where they will trample the wildlife searching for new smells. Not only are the dogs to blame for their nature but so are humans. When dogs are outside they tend to do their business outside as well because that is how they are trained. Humans may forget to bring a baggie or run out of baggies and this poop would be all over the trails. Although this seems to be a odd reason because several of the National Parks allow horses to be on their trails and horses tend to poop a lot more often not to mention it being harder to clean up. Another reason National Parks tend to be so restrictive on allowing dogs to be allowed on trails is because dogs are the natural predator to many of the animals in National Parks such as prairie dogs and other small protected animals. Pets that are brought into National Parks also have a natural instinct to mark their territory and by doing this, they could potentially be spreading diseases. Many of the trails are small and narrow where pets such as dogs could hurt fragile wildlife by running off the trail. Not only is this for the protection of the park but also for the pet owners themselves. Pets may attract predators such as mountain lions and this could cause injure to the owner as well as the pet. Bison, a common animal in the National Parks tend to not get along well with dogs so at Theodore Roosevelt park there are signs saying "bison and dogs don't mix". This law banning dogs in most National Parks should be kept in place as a protective law. Even if pets do not show that much of a threat to wildlife in National Parks, the Parks are made to preserve wildlife and by keeping the rule of banning pets they are helping preserve the wildlife.