成人大片

鈥淢ost people actually do the right thing and keep their dogs on lead in areas where they鈥檙e asked to,鈥� says lead author Dr Jasmin Packer, from the 成人大片鈥檚 School of Biological Sciences.

鈥淧articipants in our study said they choose to do so for their dog鈥檚 safety and their desire to abide by the regulations that dogs be kept on lead.

鈥淗owever, not all participants understood or were aware of the regulation that requires dogs to be on-lead, and there was also a minority we discovered who did understand the rules but chose not to use a lead.鈥�

Dr Packer鈥檚 research team, together with fellow Environment Institute researchers Dr Mark Kohler and Professor Anna Chur-Hansen, conducted open-ended interviews with dogwalkers in Wirraparinga-Brownhill Creek Recreation Park, in South Australia, to better understand why and how people walk their dogs.

The research project began when residents who live near the park requested assistance with reducing the impact dogs were having on the local bandicoot population.

鈥淎s the apex predator wherever native carnivore communities are extinct, domestic dogs are among the greatest threats to native prey species worldwide,鈥� says Dr Packer, whose study was .

鈥淭hey are a direct threat, through predation and predation stress, but can also indirectly threaten species by destroying habitat.鈥�

The southern brown bandicoot is particularly vulnerable to the threat of domestic dogs.

鈥淎lthough unrestrained dogs pose a threat to many wildlife species in the park, the southern brown bandicoot is particularly vulnerable,鈥� says Dr Packer.

鈥淭here are fewer than 10 reported individuals living in Wirraparinga鈥揃rownhill Creek Recreation Park, and they are restricted to five hectares of highly degraded habitat with blackberry thickets separated by grassland.

鈥淭hat subpopulation is the only remaining ground-nesting species within the critical weight range most vulnerable to extinction.鈥�

While most dog-walkers who participated in Dr Packer鈥檚 study indicated they follow the rules, she says a change in the way dog-lead requirements are communicated to park visitors could make the rules more effective.

鈥淥ur findings suggest that policy makers should focus on communicating positive messages to strengthen social norms around keeping dogs on lead in nature reserves,鈥� says Dr Packer, who wrote about the research .

鈥淎n example of this would be messaging such as 鈥榃ildlife Ambassador鈥� or 鈥業 keep my dog on lead to protect us all鈥�, to encourage the idea that dog owners use leads to protect their dog and the endangered bandicoots.鈥�

Most importantly, Dr Packer points out that the responsibility to comply with dog-lead rules 鈥� and the imperative to protect native wildlife 鈥� falls solely on the shoulders of humans. It is up to us whether dogs are led astray.

鈥淚t is a challenge to limit the damage domestic dogs cause to native wildlife because it relies on behaviour change among people who bring dogs into natural areas and allow them to romp unrestrained,鈥� she says.

鈥淗owever, we believe that with the right communication approach, we can work together as a community to make the world safer for bandicoots and other native species.鈥�