Dear Cloverdale Dog Owners;
I am beyond angry and disappointed at the West Cloverdale/Five Corners residents that believe Surrey Centre Cemetery is their personal dog park and toilet.
My sister has been buried at the Surrey Centre Cemetery for just over a month now. In that time I have run across several dog owners in the neighborhood, especially in the mornings (7 a.m.-7:30 a.m.) who apparently can’t read signs, or notice the memorial markers, or the veteran’s grove (cannon and flag and bench) or the flowers on the graves, and think that it is okay to let their dogs use the graveyard as a toilet!
Yes, you read that correctly, a toilet. These dog owners are purposely bringing their dogs to the cemetery and using it as a toilet/dog park! They are beyond ignorant and disrespectful!
Several times I have questioned dog owners as to whether or not they know they are in a cemetery. Granted I could probably have been politer in my questioning but the responses from the dog owners have been downright rude and irresponsible. Here is a sample of them:
Are you from the City? No I am not, does it matter? Your dog is peeing/pooping on someone’s grave. Do I have to be from the city for you to understand that this is wrong on so many levels?
Well I have people here too (in the cemetery). Really, oh, I am sorry. Please then, let your dog defecate and urinate in the cemetery because obviously if you know someone buried here, then it’s not disrespectful at all.
Or my favorite: S/He (the dog) is on a leash. Oh I see. Sorry. It’s totally okay to use a cemetery as a toilet for your dog if it’s still leashed, and you are now standing right beside it watching it defecate and/or urinate on people’s loved one’s final resting place. So sorry to interrupt, please continue.
If you live in West Cloverdale/Five Corners (the area around 60th and 168th) and you own a dog and let it defecate and/or urinate in the cemetery and/or purposely take them (the dogs) there for “exercise” then you are a complete imbecile with no moral compass! Residents of Cloverdale, have some respect, do not use the Surrey Centre Cemetery as a dog park or toilet for your canine friends.
Niamh Kavanagh
Cloverdale resident
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