Jane Purse, 90; Founded Group Pushing Public Leash-Free Dog Parks

Jane Purse, 90, the founder of Parkwatch, which successfully turned Laurel Canyon Park into a leash-free dog run, died Monday in Los Angeles of natural causes linked to aging.

The daughter of a suffragette and a naturalist, Purse was a lifelong champion of environmental causes, particularly those involving animals.

She moved to Los Angeles as a young woman in the early 1930s and lived in Laurel Canyon for more than 45 years, supporting herself by working for the Farm Security Administration and later operating Jane Purse Dog Grooming.

After retiring in 1981, Purse launched Parkwatch and her campaign to clean up the gang-ridden four-acre Laurel Canyon Park above Studio City. Her goal was to make the small area a haven for dogs, freeing them of a city ordinance requiring that they be on leashes in public parks.

Purse and her group tested the leash law by breaking it, going to jail and even physically battling enforcing animal control officers.

The City Council finally conceded in 1988, adopting a pilot program for leash-free hours at the park. Two years later, the arrangement was made permanent. Parkwatch provided pooper-scoopers and patrolled the area to make sure it was kept clean.

But as the only leash-free dog park in the city, Purse’s haven proved only too popular, attracting some 200 dogs and owners each weekend.

“It’s going to sink under its own weight, and I can’t tell you how that breaks my heart,” Purse told The Times in 1994 as she strolled with her own three dogs.

To reduce the overcrowding, Purse continued her efforts until the city authorized six more leash-free dog parks. Her efforts have become a model for similar dog runs across the country.