4.1.5 Current Situation Many people spoken to in the course of this study cited the greater relative intolerance of park users today. It is true; we live in a complaining society today and this tends to polarise viewpoints. However it would seem that the problems are, on the whole, being kept at a manageable level. There are of course incidences where the level of conflict is reported to be high, however we need to remember that these are issues that are easily inflamed by community, media and political interest - they require impartial consideration taking into account the needs of all park users. Having said that, we don't want to underestimate or trivialise the seriousness of some problems nor do we want to diminish the constructive efforts being made to resolve the numerous practical issues that dogs' use of parks entails. However we do urge park authorities to critically appraise reported problems and keep them in perspective: they represent a challenge but they are not insurmountable.