Law Enforcement

I spent today shadowing one of the law enforcement officers. He showed me a different side of the park and told me a lot of good stories of things people have done on park land. These include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Building a cabin back in the woods and living in it until caught.
2. Burning stolen firearms
3. Digging up old forts at night looking for artifacts and claiming (when caught) the that they didn't know it wasn't allowed.
4. Hunting deer in the park.

This morning we were making rounds and got a call for some of the maintenance staff that there was a hole that had been dug at City Point. We were already nearby so we checked it out. The hole was kind-of half covered with loose dirt. When I looked close I could see a skull partially protruding. At that point we started taking pictures. The sight and smell was disgusting and I won't post the pictures here. After uncovering we could tell that someone had buried their dog and the creature was now a little more than half decomposed. Maintenance said they would rebury it (I mean what else could we do). Evidently burying deceased domestic animals is something of a favorite past time in National Parks despite the little problem of it being illegal. I was told that rangers have found buried dogs, cats, gerbils, birds, and a goat. Later when we got back to the ranger station we found that another ranger had been called to Five Forks where a puppy had been abandoned and she'd brought the dog to the office since the local animal shelter was closed today. One of the other rangers decided to adopt the pup. Upon meeting its new owner for the first time the energetic black lab smelled his shoes and promptly peed on the floor.

All in all it made for an interesting day.