Sharks in the Park.

Jungle warfare. Guerrilla tactics. Subterfuge & camouflage. The age old game between hunters & their quarry. And their dogs.

The sharks are in the park! The Man! Smokey! Fuzz! Pigs! Beeeeaaaarrrrr! In their big vans & utes with lights & fluoro signs along the bodywork. “WCC Animal Control”.

Covert flashlight signals & secret passwords at night. “ALL CLEAR!” and later “INCOMING!” And scatterings through the bush.

The buggers are learning though, park the van someplace conspicuous, then send scouts on foot…

I don’t know what happened to the unspoken agreement between the council & locals, that white, middle-class residents have carte blanche to treat the Wgtn Botanic Gardens as their back yards. Free to let their dogs roam ahead or lag well behind, harass tourists, chase birds, fight other dogs, and shit on the paths.

Oh wait, actually I do know… there never was such an agreement. That didn’t stop one chap, who should know better, from sternly telling a dog ranger that “The council has said that they turn a blind eye to dogs off leads here!”. Heh! As if. The council employed dog ranger didn’t appear to know that. Or if he did, he wasn’t letting on. I didn’t know that either, although I’ve heard it optimistically said that that is the case, but not by the council, so it really doesn’t count.

So far, to my knowledge, all that’s been handed out are warnings, which to be honest, I think is rather sporting of them. For the record, Wilma has not received a warning. Because we are responsible dog owners. And we haven’t yet been caught.

A lot more dogs attached to their owners by leads these days though.