A week ago, Tanap published a new visiting order of movement in the national park, and as our friends from Tanap had warned for a long time, the ban on entry with a dog to most Tatra trails came into force.

What does this mean for us and where can we still go with our dog in the Tatras from December 15, 2023?

Writing this article is very difficult for me, since we live under the Tatras and work in the Tanap area, where we have been going together with Wolf for years. We love the Tatras and we stayed in Slovakia because of them. Animals are part of our family and household, to which we also adapt our lifestyle, that is, we take the dog with us everywhere and we cannot imagine a trip or vacation without Wolf, even though we know that many people do not understand us.

Tanap writes in their new visiting order that it is forbidden to accompany the animal, which they wanted to avoid the question mark of the owners of the turtles. Yes, you too are discriminated against. If your man is a proper animal, you must not go on the hike in Tanap with him either. In any case, I proposed one infamous solution. I can go to Tanap with the dog without a lead, but we both have to pretend that we are not in a company there together, and I have to properly teach him not to admit to me if we meet anyone.

Besides the fact that this whole order is ridiculous, because it discriminates against a large number of decent dog owners who love the Slovak mountains and followed the previous regulations in them, so in 9 years with Wolf, we have NEVER met Tanap workers or any nature guards on ANY Tatra trail, who would enforce compliance, instead we met a lot of dog walkers with their dogs off-leash, people bathing in streams with prepared blankets, folding chairs, towels and bathing suits! I could name tens, if not hundreds, of cases when none of these people were fined and did not pay attention to our warning, but we, with a dog on a lead, when we also take his poo in a bag from the nature of the national park, will no longer be able to enter this territory. Maybe I shouldn't talk about the fact that it's not only tourists who feed the foxes, but in one book there is even a photo of a cottager who is feeding the fox in the photo... Like... There would really be more cases when even the professionals did not act on the territory of the national park according to the established rules, as well as its workers.

During the entire time that our friends from Tanap warned us that this change of order was about to happen, I did not look for the possibility to comment on the order or to discuss with the management of Tanap. At the same time, I would propose a solution that would bring money to Tanap's coffers and at the same time not limit passionate tourists in the company of their canine companions. I proposed tags that could be attached to the animal in the same way as a tag from a veterinarian after vaccination. It could be one-day, three-day, weekly, monthly, half-yearly or yearly, and they could still (those non-existent guards on Tatra trails) fine those dog owners who, firstly, do not follow the rules of the park, where the dog must be on a lead, and secondly, that they should not appropriate grade. Dog walkers from abroad also come to the Tatras, who may not be familiar with this regulation.

In addition, we have not met marmots or chamois in 9 years, because we have not even gone to exposed heights, but closing the highway and access to most Tatra cottages is nothing but bullying. Not only dog owners, but also cottagers. Boycotting the Tatras by dog owners will affect their coffers.

But in order to bring information about where we can still go with our dog in the Tatras, I have written a list according to the new visiting rules.

Allowed places to walk with a dog in Tanap

Lysá Poľana - Biela voda
Tatranská javorina - Pod Muráňom
Tatranská Kotlina to Šumivý prameň
Kežmarská Biela voda (Tatranská Lomnica) to Šalviový prameň
Tatranská Lomnica - Štart - Skalnatá chata on the green and red way (in the decree, the red route along the Magistrála is prohibited, but the section from Pri Skalnatej chate Tanap has made it accessible as a "dispersal area" and the blue route from Štart through Folvarská poľana is prohibited)
Tatranská Lomnica - Rainerova chata
Starý Smokovec - Hrebienok
Starý Smokovec - Rázcestie pod Slavkovským štítom
Starý Smokovec - Nad Zrubami - Tatranské Zruby
Tatranská Polianka to Sliezsky dom on asphalt route? - we better verify this
Tatranská Polianka - Na Velickom moste
Štrbské pleso and surroundings to Trigan
On asphalt route to Popradské pleso - Nad žabím potokom (hiking.sk writes that one must not go all the way to the lake, only after the Winter Road Turnoff)
Štrbské pleso - Chata pod Soliskom
Štrbské pleso - Rázcestie pod Furkotskou dolinou
Štrbské pleso - Jamské pleso
Štrbské pleso - Tri studničky
Tri studničky - Kmeťov vodopád
Podbanské - Liptovský košiar
Pri Bystrej - Rázcestie pod Bystrou
Račkova dolina - Rázcestie Jamnickej a Račkovej
Jakubovany - Rázcestie pod Holým vrchom
Žiar - Žiarska chata
Jalovecká dolina ústie - Pod Lyscom
Jalovec - Rázcestie pod Babkami
Zuberec - Zverovka - Pod Spálenou
Zuberec - Zverovka - Adamcuľa (I don't know if it is possible to go all the way to Ťatliak's cottage)
Oravice - Juráňova dolina ústie - Pod Suchou dolinou

For those who would like to claim that there are still a large number of places where we can go with our dog, it is mostly a 30-minute walk on the edge without any views and the dog must, of course, be on a lead. You can find the full text of the new Tanap Visiting Regulations Decree HERE.

After my post was published, Tanap also made available this map of locations that can be entered accompanied by animals.

this is us

It would be a shame for us outside the Tatras and Wolf is too tall for the permitted height of dogs in shopping centers to visit them, as someone advised me... Do you know that he stands like this calmly even on the escalator? He even traveled with us several times by train to Prague, rode the subway, was in shopping centers, but he simply likes the Tatras the most and you can see how happy he is when we go there.

It may seem to people that the Tatras are banned and dog owners still have somewhere to go, but what if you tried it yourself? We have a ban on bicycle paths, playgrounds, private lands, hunting grounds (which, by the way, are 92% of the territory of our country), in cities, and if you cover these places on the map, you will find that there really is not much to walk in this world. And when someone tells me that they're walking, they just don't know that they're not allowed there... And free dog runs, surrounded by a fence, where you can't even retrieve a ball, or perhaps parks, beautiful wooded areas with paths and grass for the run, as well we don't have them here, but abroad they have been a common practice for centuries. They haven't even talked about it here yet...

It's all about socializing, which Tanap wants to ban us at the moment. We regularly go to Skalnaté pleso by cable car, snow grooming machine, he tried everything with us and thanks to that he is a smart dog, whom people love, take pictures of and hug when we are at the cottage. And he wouldn't be like that if we had a ban on entry everywhere.

Dogs belong in the Tatras!

This is also the opinion of the animal ombudsman, who has been publishing proposals for the wording of entering the Tatras with a pet for years. Tanap staff's comments on the proposal to ban dogs were to keep them from running freely in the park and hunting wild animals. I would not only punish such an offense with a very high price, but I don't even understand how there would be such irresponsible dog owners who would allow themselves to let a dog out into the wild, where it could endanger protected animals. But I probably only "judge you according to myself", because for me the love of nature and its protection means not only loving my dog, but also knowing his behavior and instincts and not allowing myself to endanger the freedom and life of other animals in nature, or other tourists or directly harm and pollute nature itself. But what would be the point of proposing high fines if there is no one to collect them?

Petition to restore the entry of dogs to Tanap

By clicking on the button below, you can sign the petition for the restoration of the entry accompanied by an animal to the national park in the High Tatras. In 20 hours, more than 1,000 people signed the petition. My intention was to open a discussion, because I had the feeling all along that no one was solving the initiative to allow dogs to enter Tanap. I agree with Tanap's order that the dog be on a lead at all times and it would be great if Tanap staff fined all the people who don't respect the rules and regulations, but I don't think the almost blanket discrimination that has fallen on even decent dog owners who don't walk only for tourism but also for work and they live in the Tatras, is a solution.

I am willing to report regularly, I am willing to pay Tanap for entry with a dog, there are several solutions, thanks to which Tanap would obtain funds for the improvement and protection of nature and would also have a better control.

Currently, responses to the petition are mostly positive. There are many people who love the Tatras and want to follow the rules to have access to them. However, there are also many who plan to boycott the Tatras and will not come to the Tatras without a dog at all or threaten to violate the regulation. This regulation encourages people to ignore regulations and creates unnecessary hateful opposites in society. Strangers from abroad who regularly came here on vacation also contacted me and wrote to me that they will no longer spend money on hotels and restaurants if they have to walk their dog on the curb and asphalt. A dog is also paid for in transport and in the cable cars, in this territory of the Tatras will be significantly financially impoverished by this group of tourists.

We love the Tatras accompanied by our dog, we live here, we work in Tanap. We have respected the regulations until now and we want to stay in Slovakia.

That's enough.

Join in by signing too.

Thank you.

#wearetatrastoo

Sign the petition