04/08/2026
Cottontail Cottage Wildlife Rehab does amazing work and has a gift with words.
Over 90% of my patients that didnāt make it to release last year had encounters with domestic pets š
Please be respectful of the world we all share š
I think one of the most dangerous shifts in our society is how entitled we have become to everything around us.
Somewhere along the way, we started believing that everything belongs to us and by extension, to our pets too. Even the wildā¦
Every time you walk into a park, a preserve, or a trail, you are entering someone elseās home. Thatās not a metaphor, itās the truth.
There is a mother fox raising her babies there. There is a rabbit hiding her newborns in the grass, relying on stillness to keep them alive.
And we walk in and unclip the leash.
I was at a local park recently walking my dog on leash, as required. We passed more than ten dogs. All but one were off leash in a park where leashes are clearly required.
About eighty percent of the animals who come into our care were attacked by off leash dogs or roaming cats.
80% percent!
I see the injuries, I see the fear, I see the babies left behind because their mother did not make it back.
Then come the social media postsā¦
āA coyote attacked my dog.ā āA fox went after my dog.ā These wild animals must be vicious right?!?
But when you ask if the dog was on leash, the answer is almost always no.
What people call aggression is often a mother defending her home, her babies, her life.
That is not cruelty, itās survival.
Wildlife populations have declined by about 73% percent in the last 50 years.
They are disappearing, and we are still treating them like they are in our way.
Iām not asking for perfection. Iām asking for respect.
Please leash your dog and keep your cats indoors. Follow the rules in the few places wildlife still have left.
Because for them, this is not a park.
This is their home.
