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Plan for more
pooch parks sets
tails a-waggin’

Places allowing leashed pets
may also change after a
city parks review

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By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

The city plans to designate two park sites in each of four Oahu districts for dogs to roam free and will increase the number of parks where on-leash pets are allowed, a gathering of dog lovers was told.

"The parks department is with you; we're not against you," William Balfour Jr., director of the Parks and Recreation Department, told 50 people last night at a Hawaiian Humane Society meeting on government-related animal issues.

"I want to see areas designated exclusively for dogs, not in a district park where a bunch of kids are playing," Balfour said. He said he believes a dog park should be at least two acres in size.

Neither of the two public areas where owners may now take their pets off leash is a city park. "Bark Park" was opened on Diamond Head Road land leased from the state, and the Humane Society operates McInerny Dog Park adjoining its kennels.

The city administration is preparing a bill that will give the parks director authority to designate space for dog use, Balfour told the group. For the plan to become reality, the City Council must pass the measure, then must approve funding in next year's budget.

Several pet owners were impatient with the prospect of waiting at least a year.

"If you will designate a place, we will take care of it," said animal trainer Ron Stebbins. He said he thinks pet owners would finance the fencing necessary to set off a dog zone.

"I'll get the teams together to activate it," he told Balfour. "Make it 100 percent user-responsible."

Stebbins said later that there are alternatives to parks as roaming ranges for pets. "Why not find preservation land, non-used property like gullies that are unsafe for anything else?"

Balfour said, "I would hope users will take some responsibility" and volunteers are welcome.

Another dog owner asked, "Would you consider shared use? Allow dogs when there are no ball games?"

Balfour said he is firm that "there should be no mingling of people and pets. It will be a place for just you and your dog, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

The director said there will be about 40 public parks where leashed dogs are allowed when the department completes a review now under way. Some places will be added and some parks now open to dogs will be taken off the list. "City beaches are off limits," he said.

He told the dog fans that there was already opposition from park users when a first tentative list of dog-friendly sites was proposed. Noise, smell, garbage and parking problems generated by such use are some of the objections. "This is a lightning rod," Balfour said. "People are either for it or against it.

Humane Society President Pamela Burns told the crowd 37 percent of all households on Oahu have dogs.

Theresa Tilley, staff director of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, reported on a bill introduced in the last Legislature providing criminal penalties for dog owners who deliberately allow their dogs to attack people or other animals.

The measure, which died in the House Judiciary Committee, is likely to be introduced again in revamped form, she said.