Quinte Conservation says it may stop allowing pets on its properties if pet owners don’t start being more responsible.

While QC areas are public spaces, there are rules about cleaning up after your pets and keeping them on leashes and General Manager Terry Murphy says the organization has received numerous complaints lately about both.

Along with being a potential inconvenience to other users of the parks, Murphy says it’s also a matter of safety for pets, as they could encounter other aggressive wildlife like coyotes, while running free.

And he says owners need to be sure to clean up their pets’ waste and not leave it alongside the trails, as there is no garbage pickup at any of QC’s conservation areas.

Murphy says if you’re not picking up what your pet leaves behind, you can take a stick and sweep it off into the bushes, as a way to keep trails clean.

Murphy says they don’t want to prohibit pets, but it has come to the point where they are “seriously considering” it.