Jenya
04-01-2004, 11:59 AM
Bylaw Drives Joggers Nuts!!
Toronto Police train radar on speedy runners Crackdown to help mating squirrels
By Bill Taylor
TORONTO STAR (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1080774613973&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154)
Thursday April 01, 2004
A new crackdown on speeders is being launched today with police concentrating their radar traps on parks all over the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Their targets will not be motorists but joggers.
In a rare example of environmental co-operation, mayors across the megacity have joined to rush through a temporary bylaw requiring joggers in parks to run no faster than 10 km/h. The region's distinctive black squirrels are entering their mating season and, with the squirrel population falling in recent years, ecologists urge that they be disturbed as little as possible.
For the six-week duration of the speed limit, unofficially dubbed "Operation Quickie," first offenders will be issued a warning. Repeat speeders will be fined as much as $500, depending on how fast they were running. They will be banned from parks for up to a year and required to attend animal-sensitivity classes.
"We're not saying black squirrels are on the verge of extinction," said zoologist Flora Lipo. "And, yes, some people regard them as pests. But they're quite a scarce variety of Sciurus carolinensis,the eastern gray squirrel, and it would be a shame if their numbers were thinned out to the point where they were forced to mate with their more common cousins and became mundane dark gray squirrels.
"Research indicates that one of the greatest inhibiting factors to amorous squirrels is joggers travelling at excessive speeds. It's not simply the wind of their passage but also the rhythmic thudding of their feet and their panting breath.
Toronto Police train radar on speedy runners Crackdown to help mating squirrels
By Bill Taylor
TORONTO STAR (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1080774613973&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154)
Thursday April 01, 2004
A new crackdown on speeders is being launched today with police concentrating their radar traps on parks all over the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Their targets will not be motorists but joggers.
In a rare example of environmental co-operation, mayors across the megacity have joined to rush through a temporary bylaw requiring joggers in parks to run no faster than 10 km/h. The region's distinctive black squirrels are entering their mating season and, with the squirrel population falling in recent years, ecologists urge that they be disturbed as little as possible.
For the six-week duration of the speed limit, unofficially dubbed "Operation Quickie," first offenders will be issued a warning. Repeat speeders will be fined as much as $500, depending on how fast they were running. They will be banned from parks for up to a year and required to attend animal-sensitivity classes.
"We're not saying black squirrels are on the verge of extinction," said zoologist Flora Lipo. "And, yes, some people regard them as pests. But they're quite a scarce variety of Sciurus carolinensis,the eastern gray squirrel, and it would be a shame if their numbers were thinned out to the point where they were forced to mate with their more common cousins and became mundane dark gray squirrels.
"Research indicates that one of the greatest inhibiting factors to amorous squirrels is joggers travelling at excessive speeds. It's not simply the wind of their passage but also the rhythmic thudding of their feet and their panting breath.