LAWTON – A full house was on hand Jan. 28 for a presentation to the City Council from City Prosecutor Al Rosenbaum on “the current dangerous dog issue that continues to plague the city…” During the past 16 years the City of Lawton has received 285 reports of animal attacks involving 348 dogs, Rosenbaum said, and the victims ranged in age from 3 to 84. “Ninety percent of the bites I’ve seen in the last seven years have been from pit bulls,” he added. “That’s just the facts” – which produced a collective groan from the audience.
As an example, Rosenbaum said, “One man was in his wheelchair when he was attacked by a pit bull and was bitten on a leg.”
“Some were random attacks on the street,” Animal Welfare Supt. Cliff Blasengame said. In another instance, “One guy was working in his back yard when he was attacked by four dogs from his neighbor’s yard who broke through a wooden privacy fence, attacked him and put him in the hospital.”
“I’ve heard about pit bulls that chewed through chain-link fences,” Rosenbaum said.
A city animal control officer was injured recently “while attempting to take a dog into custody,” Blasengame confirmed. The victim underwent surgery for wounds in one of her arms and had to have pins implanted in one of her hands, and was hospitalized for several days, he said.
Rosenbaum said city staff is conducting three separate investigations involving 29 pit bull dogs.
“One of these investigations involves a ‘puppy mill’ operation where the owners were breeding and advertising pit bulls for sale,” Rosenbaum said. The owners were suspected of breeding “fighting dogs” because the ears of the animals were “trimmed down to their head,” Blasengame said.
That was discovered when officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs served a search warrant at a house in Lawton, Blasengame told Southwest Ledger. The officers initially were “unable to gain entry due to the viciousness of the dogs in the house,” according to Rosenbaum.
“There were 10 to 12 dogs in the living room when we went in,” Blasengame said. In fact, “There were dogs in every room.” Most of them were confined in cages “but five or six were running loose.”
City animal control officers finally were able to seize and control the dogs, but three catch poles were damaged during the event, Rosenbaum said. Animal control officers took three cats and 27 dogs – most of which were pit bulls – from that residence, Blasengame said.
That search warrant was executed in connection with a federal investigation of suspected child sex trafficking.
Two ‘dangerous dog’ petitions considered Jan. 15 in municipal court resulted in three dogs being euthanized, and another ‘dangerous dog’ petition was scheduled to be heard Jan. 29, Rosenbaum told the council.
Lawton’s City Code defines a dangerous animal as one that “has inflicted severe injury on a human being or another animal without provocation” while on public or private property, or “endangers the safety of humans or other animals by aggressively attacking in an apparent attempt to inflict severe injury.”
An animal cannot be declared dangerous if “the threat, injury or damage was sustained by a person who, at the time, was unlawfully present upon the premises occupied by the owner or keeper of the animal, or was tormenting, abusing, or assaulting the animal or was committing or attempting to commit a crime under any federal, state or local law.”
Prosecutor plans to ‘up the ante’ “I’m going to up the ante” on dog attack cases, Rosenbaum announced to the City Council.
“When I took on the role of city prosecutor, I was provided with a schedule of fines by my then-supervisor, which outlined the penalty options I could offer defendants during pre-trial conferences,” Rosenbaum told the Ledger.
“This schedule included relatively low fines for animal welfare cases – significantly below the maximum penalties allowed by City Ordinances. Since 2017 I have generally followed this existing framework when making settlement offers. However, as part of an effort to ensure penalties align more appropriately with the seriousness of these offenses, I am revisiting and updating this outdated schedule. Moving forward, my pre-trial settlement offers, as well as sentencing recommendations to the Court, will reflect increased fines and may include jail time.”
Proposed solutions to canine attacks, Rosenbaum said, include more animal control officers, “increased public awareness of dangers and preventive measures” such as repellant sprays and walking sticks, “awareness briefings” to public schools and bus drivers (since sometimes children walking home from school bus stops are attacked by dogs), or a ban on pit bulls within the city limits.
State law prohibits “breed specific” dog bans, City Attorney John Andrew pointed out.
The City of Lawton intends to hire two more animal control officers, raising their numbers to six.
Animal shelter is over its capacity Lawton animal control officers “bring in 300 to 500 cats and dogs every month,” but the capacity of the municipal animal shelter is “about 120 animals,” Blasengame said.
He recommended that when a citizen finds a stray dog or cat, instead of picking it up and bringing it to the animal shelter, “Call for an animal control officer.” Why? “Because you have no idea what the demeanor of that animal is. They aren’t all amenable to adoption.”
The Animal Welfare Division handled 4,555 animals during calendar year 2023; that number included 2,818 dogs, 1,246 cats and 491 others. “Those ‘others’ included everything from guinea pigs, hamsters, snakes, chickens, rabbits, and pigs,” Caitlin Gatlin, the city’s communications manager, told the Ledger.
“The overall goal of Lawton Animal Welfare is to reduce the euthanasia rate,” she said. In 2023 the division euthanized 2,101 dogs and cats, and in 2022 the division euthanized 1,616 dogs and cats.
The division’s success rate – animals that were either adopted or returned to their owners – was 67.1% in 2023 and 72.49% in 2022, records reflect.
Lawton’s animal welfare building was constructed in 1990. It has 63 dog runs and 42 cages for “cat holding,” plus 16 cages in the cat adoption area, Gatlin said.
An alternate location for Lawton’s animal shelter and adoption center was approved in December by the City Council. The facility will be moved from its current site at 2100 SW 6th Street to the old Lawton fire station at 1701 SW Lee Blvd. Renovations are scheduled to start in August.