Dog owners call out ‘stupid’ sign erected at a local park

A council has been slammed by locals after erecting a confusing sign instructing visitors where they are allowed to take their dogs at a popular park in the area. 

The sign was recently put up at the Bong Bong Common Park in Bowral, in the NSW Southern Highlands, with dog owners branding its instructions as ‘stupid’. 

A picture of the sign uploaded to Facebook shows its left-hand side features a green arrow pointing left towards a grassy area of the park along with a ‘Dogs permitted’ message. 

The other half of the sign which states ‘No dogs’ has a red arrow pointing toward the adjacent carpark. 

A symbol of a dog circled in red with a line running through it ensures the instruction can’t be misunderstood. 

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Dozens of locals who commented on the Facebook post said the sign was not only confusing but also didn’t understand why it was necessary or practical.

Many wondered how people’s dogs were meant to be transported between the permitted and not permitted zones. 

‘How stupid our world has become. God what did they do back in the day without all these rules?’ one person commented. 

‘Need a scratching head emoji,’ another person wrote. 

‘A waste of money,’ declared one local. 

A spokesperson from Wingecarribee Shire Council explained to Daily Mail Australia why the sign was necessary. 

The sign has been put up on the boundary line to indicate land managed by the council, on one side, and land managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) on the other. 

‘As that car park is located on NPWS land, we needed to display signage prohibiting domestic animals from being on NPWS land,’ the spokesperson said.  

According to the NPWS park signage manual, boundary signs are used to ‘define the regulatory boundary on land or water’. 

The sign’s symbols are designed to advise people that it is an offence under the National Parks and Wildlife Act to disobey the instructions it displays.

‘The signage is self-explanatory,’ the spokesperson said. 

Dogs and other pets are not allowed on NSW national parks and reserves, with the rule in place to protect native plants and animals.  

In some NSW regional parks some visitors – such as people with a disability – may be allowed to enter with a trained assistance animal.