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Wild dogs no longer pose a threat at park, officials say

A pack was wreaking havoc at Wall Springs Park, but animal control officers defused the problem by killing five of the canines.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published December 20, 2005

PALM HARBOR - Visitors can once again stroll Wall Springs Park without fear. The roving canine menace is no more.

Since early November, when two wild dogs were shot and killed at the park, Pinellas County animal control officers have hunted down three more members of the pack, including its elusive leader, a 60-pound male Rottweiler.

With the Rottweiler gone and the pack's number reduced to six, the group appears to have lost much of its spunk and dispersed, animal services director Kenny Mitchell said Monday.

"You've got to instill some fear in them," Mitchell said. "Otherwise, they just keep pushing the envelope."

The animals began to frustrate authorities in June. Park visitors complained of their presence and park employees were intimidated.

Attempts to manage the pack with traps and tranquilizer guns proved ineffective.

In the first week of November, Wall Springs was closed briefly after workers there were forced to flee the lunging dogs in a golf cart. Days earlier, the dogs confronted a ranger, who had to run down an embankment to get away.

Nov. 2, animal control officer John Hobson shot and killed a male pack member, a chow, opening a new, lethal phase in the battle to control the pack.

Some expressed outrage the county had resorted to shooting the dogs. Mitchell said it was either that or be ready to explain why nothing was done after a child or elderly person was mauled or worse.

"They had crossed the line," he said of the dogs. "We sort of had to reclaim our turf."

In the weeks that followed, animal control officers also shot and killed three more animals, but the alpha Rottweiler remained on the loose.

His luck ran out Nov. 24 when animal control officer Rick Stahl chose to stake out an isolated area of Wall Springs that's home to pine and oak trees. When the Rottweiler ranged into view, Stahl killed him with a .22-calibre rifle equipped to fire an inaudible round.

Officials say the dog was about 25 yards away and had detected Stahl's presence. He was snarling when he died.

Now animal control officers are no longer patrolling or setting traps in the 195-acre park. Coyotes, which avoid wild dogs, have returned. Camp Wai Lani, the adjacent Girl Scout camp that had been closed for weeks as a precaution, reopened on Nov. 26.

"We have not seen hide nor hair of the dogs since they got rid of the big Rottweiler," said county parks and recreation director Paul Cozzie. "The wild dog problem out at Wall Springs Park seems to have resolved itself with the help of our animal control officers. Everything is back to normal."

--Will Van Sant can be reached at 445-4166 or vansant@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 20, 2005, 01:50:22]