By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl has gone all the way to Casey council to have a dog park introduced to the municipality so her two pet huskies have somewhere safe to roam.
Angelina Whinney-Smith submitted a 46-signature petition and a heartfelt letter to the council this month calling for a dog park to be set up in the municipality.
Councillor Rosalie Crestani presented the petition to the council – which will look into the concept – and read out Angelina’s letter.
Angelina, in grade 4, wrote that she wanted an area in Casey she could take her two huskies to, Blizzard and Leiha, without worrying they would run off.
“I think the community could benefit from this because it gives dogs the chance to safely run around and be free. This makes the dogs and owners happy,” Angelina wrote.
“Lots of families can go and play there together with their dogs. We have two dogs, they are huskies, and we can’t let them off the lead or they run away.
“I think lots of people would have dogs like this too, but a big playground like this would mean that those dogs have a safe lead free park, too.”
Angelina’s mother, Jemma, said as far as she knew there no specific dog parks in the municipality.
Jemma said her daughter’s dog park idea had grown from research into a school project, in which she learned that there were 27,832 registered dogs in Casey.
“They were given a project where they had to think of a concept or community service that they could either initiate or improve,” Jemma said.
“I prompted her and asked what she (Angelina) was most passionate about and she said animals.
“So we settled on something to do with animals and we tossed and turned with a few ideas and it led us to this.”
Angelina, who wants to be a vet when she grows up, wrote that she envisaged the park having an exercise playground for dogs, complete with tunnels, hurdles and ramps.
“Dogs are an important part of the lives of our members of community and I think people would love living in this town with parks for their dogs,” she wrote.
“Maybe we could set up a few of these parks in our council?
“I know lots of people who have dogs – almost all of my friends have them – and they think this is an awesome idea, too.”
