City Council won’t ban pit bulls

City of Lawton officials should focus on bad dog owners rather than banning specific breeds, pit bull supporters say.

The auditorium of Lawton City Hall was filled with pit bull enthusiasts for Tuesday’s City Council meeting, where council members were to receive a presentation from City Prosecutor Alan Rosenbaum and city animal control officials about what they say is a dangerous dog issue. Many problems — including an attack in early January that left an animal control officer with permanent injuries — can be traced to a single breed, pit bulls, Rosenbaum and Animal Control Director Cliff Blasengame said.

Council members ultimately took no action, beyond encouraging steps already being taken, including hiring additional animal control officers. Mayor Stan Booker made clear at the top of the meeting that the council was not considering a ban on pit bulls — a point also made by two council members.

A list of solutions that city administrators included in Tuesday’s council agenda packet started with a “lawful ban of Pit Bulls within the City limits if legal approval can be obtained.” After the meeting, City Attorney John Andrew said state law specifically prohibits cities from “breed specific” bans, a statute that was upheld by the Oklahoma Attorney General almost 20 years ago.

Rosenbaum urged the council “don’t shoot the messenger,” saying dangerous dogs continue to be a problem in the community. He accompanied his report with pictures of the victims of recent dog attacks, pictures council members later made available to everyone in the audience. Rosenbaum, responsible for prosecuting violations of municipal code in municipal court, said some of the damage he is seeing from dog bites “far exceeds what humans do,” adding the majority of such attacks come from pit bulls.

City code does address the issue, Rosenbaum said, of provisions that define a dangerous dog and what owners must do once their dog has that designation. Violations of those provisions can lead to the animal being euthanized, under the code.

But attacks continue to be a problem. Rosenbaum said federal officials recently needed help from Lawton animal control when seizing 29 pit bulls being sold for fighting. Three are females, that are now being held in the city animal shelter after giving birth. A court hearing Wednesday morning centered on a man in a wheelchair who was attacked by a dog while both were in the street, Rosenbaum said, adding he has dealt with two dangerous dog petitions this month, with three dogs found to be dangerous and euthanized.

His comment that the most common breed involved in dog bites is the American Staffordshire was met with objections from the audience.

“They are a very powerful dog,” Rosenbaum said, adding 90 percent of the dog attack cases he has seen in the last 7 years have been pit bulls.

He said the issue has hit close to home for the city shelter: an animal control officer was injured almost three weeks ago as she tried to capture a pit bull.

“She’ll be permanently disabled,” Rosenbaum said of the hand injury.

Blasengame said, in addition to more attacks, there also are more dogs running in the street, explaining people are turning dogs loose rather than turning them into the shelter. That increase, in turn, is causing problems: the shelter averages 300 animals a month, when it can only hold 120.

But changes are coming. Blasengame said he just hired three new animal control officers who are in training, while the city manager approved two additional positions.

Audience members and some council members argued the city needs to take steps against bad owners, not ban the dogs. Audience members wanted to speak — Booker estimated 25 had signed forms — but time restrictions during public comments limited speakers to four.

Dennis Shepard, a combat veteran with post-traumatic stress, credits his three dogs — two pit bull mixes — with saving his life. He said the bigger issue is owners who will not control their dogs.

“Those people need to be held accountable,” he said, adding it wasn’t right to ban one breed. “Why not fix the real problem at hand?”

Monika Hoover said the problem is that the City of Lawton is not dedicating enough resources to animal control, saying she knows that from personal experience.

Hoover said in December she noticed a dog on the side of the road in her neighborhood, and when she called animal control for a pickup, she was told there was only one working officer and they didn’t know when he could respond. As she waited, a young boy saw the dog, then ran from it, prompting the dog to give chase and bite him. Hoover said she protected the boy by putting him in her car, then called a second time for an animal control officer, but no one responded, adding it was “deeply troubling” that in a city of almost 100,000, there was only one officer working that day.

Not everyone opposed a ban.

Former Councilman Kelly Harris said he supports the idea, explaining he is one of those bite victims. Harris said last Fall, he was trying to notify a neighbor that his dogs were out and as he approached the yard, one dog bit his lower leg.

“I was just afraid,” Harris said about a situation he feared could get worse because the other dog was circling him, adding that nationwide statistics show there has been an average of 43 deaths per year since 2011 from dog attacks. “I want to believe, yeah, it’s just bad dog owners.”

Council members, agreeing the problem may be with owners, said there may be other factors to weigh.

Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren said 76 percent of bites come from unaltered dogs (meaning, that have not been sterilized).

“That’s part of the problem,” he said.