A leisurely weekend walk with the family dog turned into a clean-up mission for Barrie’s Karen Dowan and her daughter Sunday morning.
The pair had decided to skip the neighbourhood walk and take their dog Scout for a trail walk through Lackies Bush in the city's south end when they came across two small wooden stakes marked by bright orange tape located on the pathway and immediately wondered what they were for.
“There was no sign, or indication of danger. It wasn’t until we passed the path that we came across two people with their dog saying to watch out because somebody had thrown some tacks on the path,” she told BarrieToday. “I thought it was weird that somebody would just do that… and I wasn’t going to just leave it for the next person because they’re not going to see the danger.”
Dowan and her daughter picked up as many tacks as they could — and ended up collecting 89 in total.
“Luckily, we had some extra poop bags to collect them all. It was distinctly right on the walking path. The danger is to dogs and children," she said.
Dowan called the Barrie police non-emergency number and was told she should report it through the department’s online reporting system. The site, she noted, wasn’t functioning properly, so she opted instead to post what she’d seen on her social-media page and asked friends to share accordingly.
“I thought it was an area of concern people should know about,” she said, adding luckily her dog had been on a leash and wasn’t injured. “I don’t know why anybody would bring thumb tacks to a park.”
Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon told BarrieToday that the department did not receive a report on the incident, but acknowledged it is “very disturbing,” adding he’d advise residents to always be aware of their surroundings and suggested keeping pets on a leash wherever possible in order to better control their actions if needed.
“That way, if you do see something on the ground that catches your attention, hopefully you can get them to stop before they step towards it," he said.
Leon commended Dowan and her daughter for making the effort to clean up the danger they’d found.
“It’s obviously very disturbing when you see something like this in our community. A lot of people use the trails, especially this time of year. Kids will be there riding their bikes and it could result in a flat tire and it certainly could have resulted in punctures into animal paws,” he said.
“Hopefully this is isolated in nature and we don’t see anything more."
