Things have been getting a little out of hand in California parklands lately, at least as far as off-leash dogs are concerned.
Last week we brought you the story of the park ranger who used a stun gun on a man who was walking his lap dogs off leash in a huge park parcel near San Francisco. And today we write about a Los Angeles-area woman who allegedly got so mad about a park worker telling her to leash up that she rammed her car into her, leaving the worker with leg injuries.
The Los Angeles Sheriffs Department said the park worker warned Arune Kavaliauskaite three times that her dogs needed to be on leash at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center in Pasadena. After the third time, Kavaliauskaite allegedly became hostile, picked up her dog, and got into her car. The park worker, whose name is not being released, called in for assistance before the dog’s owner went ballistic, according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department.
The victim was standing a short distance away from the vehicle takinga picture of Ms. Kavaliauskaite in the vehicle for future identification. Ms. Kavaliauskaite accelerated forward with the vehicle into the victim striking her in the legs and knocking her back into a parked vehicle, the statement said. The driver fled, and was later arrested at her home for assault with a deadly weapon.
The park worker, referred to as a “a parks recreational service leader,” was released from the hospital later that day.
Just as the ranger who used the stun gun did no favors for park relations with visitors, the L.A. dog walker did not help the dog-walking contingent by her dangerous actions. Eaton Canyon had been on the verge of banning dogs, but things have been looking up recently. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote about it in my book, The Dog Lover’s Companion to California:
“This wild and beautiful 184-acre park can be a little too enticing for dog folks: Many of the users allow their dogs off leash, according to rangers. This is something the rangers consider a big no-no, in part because of the wildlife here (many a deer has been chased, they say), in part because of the horses who share the trails (many a horse has been spooked, they say), and in part because of the rattlesnakes and poison oak here (many a dog has encountered both, the former with nasty results for the dog, the latter with nasty results for the dogs human).
“Rangers have considered banning dogs in the past, but thats no longer a major possibility. Maybe the Alice Frost Kennedy Dog Park has taken some of the heat off the place.”
I hope Kavaliauskaite did not put the heat back on this park, because it’s a really beautiful hiking area. I also hope that things cool down all the way around between dog walkers and law enforcement in the Golden State.
Source: LA Times
