RICHMOND, Va. -- It's a problem volunteers say is far too common at one of Richmond's popular parks: dogs off leashes.
At Bandy Field Nature Park, there are at least four different signs pointing to city code requiring park visitors to keep dogs on a leash or face up to a $250 fine.
David Harless, a volunteer with Friends of Bandy Field, said he doesn't see patrons following the rule, because he's never seen it enforced.
"I want to say, but it doesn't do any good, 'Can't you read the sign?' Well of course they read the signs. Everybody reads the signs. They know what the rules are," Harless said.
When CBS 6 interviewed Harless at the park on Sunday afternoon, almost every dog seen on the property was unleashed, only being leashed when exiting the park near the small parking lot off Three Chopt Road.
Harless said this year, unleased dogs have sent at least two park patrons to the hospital with injuries. One of them is a volunteer Harless knows.
“The impact on her life has just been terrible. She was hospitalized, she had to have surgery, she is still recovering from that injury," he explained.
Harless said it's not just about the safety of people visiting. It's for other pets, too.
“Another volunteer at the field, she had her dog attacked and it required a trip to the vet to treat the dog," Harless said.
Harless spoke out about the issue at a Nov. 28 Public Safety Standing Committee meeting, expressing his concerns to committee chair Reva Trammel.
"I'm very grateful that the citizens spoke at our public safety meeting," Trammel told CBS 6 in a statement Sunday. "I know the city administration is looking into their concerns. The citizens have my information, and they can contact me any time. I appreciate them taking their time to attend our public safety meeting."
In July, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that during a Public Safety Standing Committee meeting, Richmond Animal Care and Control Deputy Director Christie Chipps-Peters said calls regarding strays and off-leash dogs were considered a "bottom of the barrel" priority, due to RACC having to prioritize emergency cases since seeing a drastic increase in call volume.
Harless said as a volunteer, he works with other Richmond parks, and said the problem is pervasive across the city.
He's hoping someone from the city will stop by Bandy Field from time to time to enforce the city's leash law to prevent any more injuries or uneasiness.
“We need a change in the City of Richmond to make people safer, to make animals safer too, by enforcing the leash law, not just here but at all parks in the city," he said. "What level of injuries, what level of risk to the safety of park patrons is tolerable?”
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