Wichita Kansas-Distributes Dangerous Dog Survey

[Rene Allegrini]

This was shared from the BSL list I am on. When I'm home, I'll share the .pdf file with you.

The survey from their website (WINSurveyDogs.pdf)

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/14108620.htm

Survey: Is city plagued by dogs?

Wichita Independent Neighborhoods is helping distribute the survey, which will be used to determine the scope of the problem.

BY STAN FINGER

The Wichita Eagle
Are there dangerous dogs in your neighborhood?
Wichita Independent Neighborhoods and city officials want to hear from you.
A Neighborhood Dangerous and Vicious Dog Survey is being distributed by the neighborhoods group and is posted on the city's Web site. Backers of the survey want a better sense of how extensive the problem with dangerous dogs is in the city.

[aseemom]

These are quotes from the artical....

"Dennis Graves, the city's animal services supervisor, said the number of aggressive breeds being brought in to the animal shelter -- pit bulls, rottweilers and chows -- has increased as well."

"The core problem, in my opinion, is the popularity of animals that are symbols of machoism," such as pit bulls, he said."

Boy, I would love to see this survey. I hope it is not as leading as the artical about it.

"If the perception is there's a problem, obviously there's a problem," Graves said. "We need to address it in some manner."

So, if one perceives then it is fact. What is this world coming to?

There are so many problems with this artical that I do not have enought time to point them out. In some ways, it reminds me of Macarthy and his anti-communist policies. Heck, if you don't like your neighboor, perceive his dog as vicious.

[Rene Allegrini]

This is a copy of the survey being distributed in Wichita Kansas:

WICHITA INDEPENDENT NEIGHBORHOODS, INC.
COMMUNITY ACTION COMMITTEE
The Community Action Committee of WIN has been meeting to discuss the vicious dog problem in Wichita. Our discussions lead us to several conclusions.
1.) Many neighborhoods throughout the city are experiencing this problem.
2.) The Police and Fire Departments, postal carriers and meter readers would benefit from having detailed knowledge of problem areas.
3.) The city’s Environmental Services department, which includes Animal Control, could benefit from greater resources (such as personnel and equipment).
The current city system being used to keep tract of repeat dog bites and pet owner offenders, is not capable of doing what is really needed to deal with those important issues. The system needs to be a fully functioning computer program that is reliable for all city departments that need to know this type of information. We believe most of our neighborhood leaders would like to know where the potentially bad dogs live so they could do a better job of making neighbors aware. Without some form of computerization of pet license violations, such as inadequate fencing, no license or record of shots, the problems are hearsay in the neighborhood associations and it is difficult to request increased enforcement.
It is now time to get input from the neighborhood associations so a more comprehensive presentation can be made to city officials regarding neighborhood concerns about viscous dogs. We have listed some questions and ask for your input.
Neighborhood Dangerous and Vicious Dog Survey
1. Are there dogs living in your neighborhood that threaten you or your neighbors?
�� YES �� NO
2. Have you ever seen dogs running unleashed in the city?
�� YES �� NO
3. Have you ever been afraid because of dogs running loose in the city?
�� YES �� NO
4. Have you ever called to report threatening dogs?
�� YES �� NO
A. If yes, who did you call?
�� Police �� Animal Control �� Both
B. Did they respond to your call?
�� YES �� NO
5. What was the response time?
Police �� 15-30 min �� 30-60 min �� 1-2 hrs. �� >2 hrs.
Animal Control �� 15-30 min �� 30-60 min �� 1-2 hrs. �� >2 hrs.
6. Based on your experience, does the city of Wichita need stronger enforcement of current animal control laws regarding dangerous and vicious dogs?
�� YES �� NO
Any special stories please write on the back of this sheet. ___________________________
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Please let us know the name of your neighborhood association. ______________________
__________________________________________________ ________________________
Please return this survey to any WIN board member or mail to:
John Stevens % WIN, 1150 N. Broadway Suite 101, Wichita, Kansas 67214
enersigns@sbcglobal.net

This has the potential for turning into something really horrible. Will the names of all "potentially" dangerous dog owners and their addresses be published in the newspaper as was done in another state? This could get ugly.

[AB1101]

I have been writing back and forth with John Stevens, he is basically lost on what to do about these vicious dogs? We need to get him educated!!!

[AB1101]

This is what I sent to John Stevens
This survey is based around slander and fiction. If you do not like your neighbor, then say his dog is vicious. Work with the ACF American Canine Foundation on putting vicious dog laws into place, and then enforce them. You are asking for big legal trouble by doing this.
This was his reply
If the postman is going to stop delivering your mail because your neighbor is an irresponsible pet owner, have your rights been violated?

My Reply
Then the neighbor would call the local authorities to have the dog owner investigated for irresponsible dog ownership. The authorities would have to determine if they feel the dog is vicious. If the dog is considered vicious then there should be vicious dog laws in place to address this situation. If you investigate dog owners based on a survey, then you will have people saying dogs are vicious based on what breed they are. This might be true with some dogs, but there is a lot of hysteria around certain breeds of dogs. The truth of the matter is you have good owners and bad owners. This survey is trying to set up a breed banning based on statistics of the survey. Call the American Canine Foundation and work with them on putting the best dog laws into place. They are the experts with these legalities.


This was John Stevens Reply
What rights does this man have?

My story: I work out of the home, so my neighborhood is visible to me
> nearly all the time. I make it a point to carry a rather large, sharp
> knife solely for the purpose of either defending myself from dogs or
> as a line of attack if I see someone attacked by dogs while walking
> in our neighborhood.
>
> The city has never stood up and really done something about this
> problem, and so consequentially I must put up with my neighbor's
> three pit bulls running loose. If the city can't once and for all
> actually ban vicious dogs from the city, then there should be a
> stronger criteria for penalizing owners who can't keep their dogs
> penned. If my other neighbor's rat terriers get loose, they may be a
> nuisance, but they are not likely to attack and kill me. So, I would
> propose defining what exactly constitutes a vicious dog, either by
> size or breed or other classification system, then fine those owners
> at a much higher rate, say $100-500 per instance, when their pets are
> running loose. If you make the fine painful enough, they'll maybe
> think twice about securing their gate.
Would you walk the street in your neighborhood with tigers on the loose?

I then sent him a letter about the Ohio ruling, followed by this. If you were wondering, No Reply
Breed Specific Legislature is Unconstitutional. Do not waste your taxpayers money by putting this into place. Instead put vicious dog laws into place that gets rid of VICIOUS dogs. Don’t judge a book by the cover. Rottweilers are used for Search and Rescue all over the country. They are also used for people with disabilities. It is the OWNERS that create vicious dogs. Educate dog owners to take their dog to training classes, get their dog CGC (Canine Good Citizen) certified. Do not go back to an archaic way of thinking, because dog organizations will take your legislature to the Supreme Court, and you will lose. You should be commended for trying to protect your citizens. Just remember, there are a lot of bad parents, if they are from a certain race, does that mean you ban that race?

[AB1101]

I e-mailed John the Humane society's dog laws

Guess What? John Stevens e-mailed me back with this to say.

I wish to thank you for the research information. If the dogs in our city were like yours, we would not be having the problems I have told you about. We are not against any dogs except the vicious dogs and their irrsponsible owners. You may have shown us the answer as to how to solve this dilema. Thanks again,

John Stevens

It is definately a positive response.

[AB1101]

UPDATE this was just e-mailed to me. This community actually listened, and are not going BSL. We do make a difference.
Dear xxxxxxx,

I would like to thank you for your input on our study of vicious dogs. I have enclosed a copy of our report for the Wichita City Council with regard to this subject. Thanks again for your help.

John Stevens

Vicious Dogs Report

Spurred by complaints to WIN from member neighborhood associations, the WIN Board asked its Community Action Committee to study the vicious dog issue. Over the last seven months, numerous meetings, seeking information and meeting with the City of Wichita’s Department of Environmental Services staff, the Committee initiated the Vicious Dog Survey. The Committee wants to thank neighborhoods and Neighborhood Associations, the Media and City staff for their assistance for success of this project. Although our survey was not scientifically perfect, it has provided some tremendous insight as to how citizens of Wichita feel about dogs and security in their neighborhoods.

Many are angry, frustrated and frightened. They have had the experience of returning to their home to find a vicious dog or dogs running loose with the potential to harm them, their family or their peaceful family pet. Of the 248 respondents to the WIN Dog Survey (Addendum A), 82% stated they had observed dogs running loose in the city and 66% stated they had been fearful of these dogs. If they manage to elude harm (and many have not), they call animal control with the hope someone will arrive and intervene. Alas, as our survey data indicates 22% of the time no one responded. When someone did respond, it generally took 30 minutes to 2 or more hours to respond. Less frequently the police were called with a better response rate and in a timelier manner. A final question on the survey asked if the respondent thought there needed to be better enforcement of current Wichita ordinances for vicious, unleashed dogs. An overwhelming majority, 74% stated yes.

When reviewing current Wichita dog ordinances it is apparent that improvements could be made. Limited results have been achieved through past ordinance reform efforts. Addendum B of this report is a model ordinance provided by the National Humane Society. Its emphasis is on holding errant pet owners responsible rather than targeting specific breeds of dogs or dogs in general. It has been included to act as a catalyst for reform of our own ordinances. Many of the survey respondents who provided written testimony of their vicious dog experiences agree that it is a pet owner issue as much as a vicious, poorly trained dog.

Vicious dogs exist in every community. Discussion with law enforcement and those who responded to the survey show that gangs use dogs to enhance their presence in the neighborhood and add to an image of power. Vicious dogs also act as sentinels and security for criminal elements such as drug dealers. Other discussion reveals that some pet owners are vicious and cruel themselves and have mistreated their pet by having them continuously tethered and with physical abuse.

Discussions with the Director of Environmental Services reveal that recording and tracking repeat complaints concerning vicious dogs is difficult, if not impossible. It was found that tickets issued for dog violations were written one each per event. These tickets are not entered into a database, therefore there is no way to track or retrieve previous complaint data without a manual search of old tickets. Without computerization of this data, it would be very difficult to stay informed about repeat complaints of the same dog or owners. Currently there is no clear process to share vicious animal alerts with other city departments such as law enforcement or fire and rescue due to the lack of any reliable data banking software within Environmental Services. We must conclude that the City of Wichita needs to make a serious consideration to computerize the animal control complaints in order to provide a reasonable amount of proper information in a reasonable period of time for those who need the data including neighborhood associations.

As stated earlier, many of the survey respondents felt the need for stronger enforcement of current ordinances. If you look at the number of calls made to animal control each day and the number of personnel in place, it is impossible to solve this problem with the present staff. There are currently 12 animal control officers in the Animal Control Department to respond to approximately 200 calls per day on a 24/7 basis. We have been told that cities the size of Wichita may have twice that many officers. It is no wonder that the survey respondents reported poor response rates and times. We need more resources in our Animal Control division. Demand is so great that even the Wichita Police Department has had to be involved in response to animal issues on a regular basis in recent years. According to a department representative, police officers have had to respond to numerous vicious dog attacks. Of those calls they drew and discharged their weapons at 40 vicious animals, killing 21 and debilitating 11. Thirty-two of those animals were pit bulls.

What is the cost to solve this problem? What is the cost if we don’t solve this problem? Standards have not been set high enough to protect the public from excessive pain and suffering caused from over 900 dog bits in 2005 (please see the picture and chart). WIN asks that the City Council look at the possible solutions that would include increased enforcement, stronger ordinances, and education for pet owners and neighborhoods regarding ordinances, enforcement and how to get help. Citizens don’t want to tell their friends visiting Wichita to be sure and carry a supply of pepper spray if you walk in one of our neighborhoods. If we want a happier, safer city, changes need to be made and something needs to be done to implement the changes.

For stronger neighborhoods and a better Wichita,

Wichita Independent Neighborhoods, Inc.
Members of the board