The Ulvenhoutse Bos near Breda will be off limits to dogs from next summer. The municipality and province are intervening because pet feces, together with nitrogen from traffic and livestock farming, seriously threaten the vulnerable flora of the nature reserve. Many residents are angry and point out that the measure mainly affects them, while emissions from highways and agriculture are much greater.
“The piles are only small, but if there are many of them, they accumulate and can be locally harmful,” says ecologist Wieger Wamelink of Wageningen University. the NOS. The decision is based on a literature study into the effect of dog feces on nature.
Petition
Earlier, a petition appeared against closing the dog walking area in the forest. No fewer than 1,560 dog owners signed this. The municipality of Breda then announced that it was looking at all options, but that the law obliges them to maintain the nature in this forest. The forest is in poor condition due to desiccation and excess nitrogen emissions. According to the municipality, the feces of stray dogs also contribute to the burden on nature.
Dog owners are now also protesting against this restrictive measure. “I think it’s going a long way,” says a hiker. “If we have to leave here, we get in the car to another exhaust area and that also produces nitrogen emissions.”
Initiator Ilse Burema of the petition in Breda also does not intend to give up the resistance. “Both livestock farming and the highways produce many times more nitrogen than dogs. Why do we have to pay the price? That feels very unfair.”
Not the first forest
The Ulvenhoutse Bos is not the first place in the country where dogs are banned. Many nature reserves are struggling with the growing number of pets, not only because of their droppings, but also because they regularly cause damage to plants and other animals in the forest.