LAWTON – City Hall was packed recently with dog lovers nipping at the heels of the City Council over a misconception that city officials intended to ban pit bull dogs.
Because so many citizens wanted to address the council on the subject of vicious animals, Mayor Stan Booker imposed the “citizen participation” rule: three minutes per speaker, nine minutes total per side.
Former Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris was the only person to speak in favor of a dog ban.
On Nov. 26 “I walked around the side of my house, where my car was parked,” he recalled. “A couple of my neighbor’s dogs came over to me and started sniffing around. I went over to tell my neighbor his dogs were loose, when one of the pit bulls bit my right leg.” He received a relatively minor puncture wound “but I was afraid,” Harris said. “That dog was strong.”
He said he has “been around dogs all my life” and has “never read about a cocker spaniel killing anybody.”
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 468 deaths in the U.S. between 2011 and 2021 occurred from encounters with dogs, and children between the ages of 1 and 4 are the most frequent victims of fatal dog attacks, Harris related.
Approximately 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs every year, and about 800,000 of the victims, or 17.7%, require medical treatment.
Research has shown that dog bites most often came from pit bulls, mixed breeds, German Shepherds, terriers, and Rottweilers.
Lawtonian Dennis Shepard presented the flip side of the debate, urging the City Council to “punish the owners, not the breeds.”
Monica Hooper claimed the city has “a lack of resources for animal control.” On any given day the city has just one animal control officer on duty, she indicated.
Astra Turner said there are “too many instances where dogs are left outside” in extreme weather conditions. “Animals need adequate shelter.” The city should “enforce animal cruelty and neglect laws and prosecute violators, she asserted.
“I don’t believe any of us [on the City Council] intends to promote a breed-specific ban,” Councilman Randy Warren said. He said a multi-year study conducted in Spain that found small dogs “actually had a bigger propensity to bite” but caused less-severe injuries.
Warren cited a ‘risk factor study’ conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that examined 20 years of fatal dog bites and identified key factors:
• 76% of the fatalities involved dogs that were not spayed or neutered.
• 84% of the bites occurred when the animals were not confined properly.
• 87% of the dogs in fatal attacks “lacked appropriate supervision.”
“It’s not the dog’s fault,” Warren said. “It’s the owner’s fault.”
“We want to keep our community safe,” said Councilwoman Sherene Williams. “It’s the dog owner’s responsibility to see that happen.”
“Ownership responsibility has to be a priority,” Councilman Bob Weger said.
“There are a lot of dogs running loose in town,” Councilwoman Mary Ann Hankins said.
“There are no bad dogs, just bad owners,” Councilman R.L. Smith said.
“I’m not comin’ for your dog,” Councilman George Gill vowed. “And we’re not goin’ to ban pit bulls.”
The debate over whether to ban pit bulls in Lawton was academic, anyway, because state law prohibits “breed specific” dog bans, City Attorney John Andrew pointed out.