Open letter to dog owners

We’ve been running our dogs at Los Jilgueros Preserve since it opened in 1990. Sometimes we visit each day, usually in the morning and late afternoon. We’ve seen kids ride their bikes there, moms push strollers, runners jog the trails, hopeful fishermen dropping a line in one of the ponds. Teenagers saunter through, lovers picnic, young families hike the trails and bird watchers train binoculars into tree branches.

We’ve also seen dog owners watch their pets defecate, then hurry on without picking up the feces.

Los Jilgueros Preserve is not a county park staffed with a crew of maintenance workers and park rangers paid by taxpayers. It is owned by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy, a nonprofit foundation consisting of dedicated volunteers. The conservancy employs one person who is responsible for all of its seven preserve locations. Using Los Jilgueros Preserve is a privilege, not a right. Therefore, when irresponsible dog owners leave piles of feces on, and adjacent to, the trails, it is not only disrespectful to the myriad residents who use the preserve, it is unsanitary. Moreover, since Los Jilgueros is home to a variety of wildlife, danger lurks in uncollected feces that can penetrate nature’s food chain and, ultimately, Fallbrook’s water table.

If you are one of the dog owners who misuse the privilege of visiting Los Jilgueros by not picking up your dog’s feces, you may be the person responsible for ultimately closing the preserve to all dog owners. Be responsible; clean up after your pet. We will appreciate it, as will the wildlife that calls the preserve home and the hundreds of people who love Los Jilgueros as we do for its multitude of uses and pristine beauty.

Jim and Sarah Bates