Kansas City suburbs slowly lift their pit bull bans. But a few haven’t budged
A couple of decades ago, suburbs across the Kansas City metro rushed to ban pit bulls — or dogs that even looked like the breed — after some highly publicized attacks.
But now, as animal rights advocates and dog owners argue that such laws amount to discrimination, one by one those cities are lifting their bans.
Kansas City, Kansas, and Liberty both removed their ordinances this past year, following the lead of Shawnee, Roeland Park and Fairway.
Next could be Prairie Village, where the City Council this week began rethinking its ban. Advocates hope a change in Prairie Village could help persuade leaders in the area’s few holdouts, such as Overland Park and Independence, to take their bans off the books.
At a Prairie Village City Council meeting on Tuesday, Emily Coleman of Olathe made her case: “I can’t live here because I have a pit bull, and I’m not going to give her up,” she said. “I think there’s a consensus among experts that we don’t have anything to worry about from bully-type breeds.”
Overland Park officials say they haven’t heard from advocates like Coleman recently, but might reconsider the city’s ban if a resident brings it up.
Like other cities’ laws, Prairie Village’s ordinance bans any dog that looks like a pit bull terrier — square-faced, bulky-bodied dogs.
Advocates contend there is no evidence proving pit bulls are more dangerous than other dogs, and they argue a law based on appearance is antiquated and arbitrary. But others still worry about attacks, saying the city isn’t doing enough to enforce its animal control laws or prevent dog bites.
The Prairie Village City Council agreed to further discuss repealing the pit bull ban at its next meeting, but not all council members are on board.
A few officials argued that more research is needed before making a decision. And with Prairie Village reporting around two dog bites each month on average, Councilwoman Courtney McFadden said the city should do a better job regulating dangerous animals before repealing the ban.
“I think that is unreasonable, and we’re not addressing the issue. We still have problems with dog bites,” she said. “I don’t think we need to add more dogs to the issue when we don’t have preventative measures in place.”
Prairie Village rethinks pit bull ban
It’s not the first time Prairie Village has considered lifting its pit bull ban. The City Council discussed it during a lengthy and contentious meeting in 2016, but the measure failed with a 7-5 vote.
“I brought this up in 2016, and then the Council decided not to listen to statistics or their constituents,” former Prairie Village resident Ashley Stark said. “I lived here with two dogs that would be considered pit bulls, and it got to the point where I no longer felt safe with those animals. I had to put my dogs in my car every night and go across city lines to walk them because I was afraid of being targeted.”
“I see pit bulls in Prairie Village all the time,” she continued. “To assume they’re not already here would be naive.”
Around that same time, Prairie Village updated its ordinance to include provisions on viscous animals, in an effort to hold pet owners more responsible, said Police Chief Tim Schwartzkopf. More cities have been adopting such ordinances that apply to all dangerous pets, not just one breed of dog.
“That ordinance was written in the vein that if this day comes that the breed-specific language gets repealed, it would be a very easy change. It wouldn’t be a complete rewrite of our ordinance,” Schwartzkopf said.
Council members Jori Nelson, Tucker Poling, Ron Nelson and Chad Herring brought the discussion up again, hoping to gain broader support for repealing the ban this time around. And Tuesday night, only three of the 12 council members did not favor advancing plans to remove the law.
Proponents, as well as many experts, argue against an “appearance-based” approach to animal control. They say that it is difficult to know an exact breed without a DNA test, and that targeting dogs that look like pit bulls is unfair.
“Besides breed-specific laws being difficult to enforce, they’re also very difficult to interpret,” resident Steve McClain told the Council. “Really what we need is responsible pet owners and well-behaved animals.”
Melody Huff, executive director of The Pet Connection in Kansas City, is also encouraging the City Council to repeal the ban. She said her nonprofit, which rescues animals deemed dangerous or aggressive, took in 300 dogs last year, with 20% of those identified as pit bull mixes. Only two of the dogs were purebred pit bulls, she said.
“For an organization that primarily takes aggressive dogs out of our communities and houses them long-term, that’s a pretty effective statistic. Any breed can be aggressive,” she said.
In recent years, the American Kennel Club, the American Bar Association, the American Humane Association and other groups have spoken against breed-specific legislation, arguing there is little evidence to determine if a dog is dangerous based on its breed.
But some Prairie Village City Council members said they still need convincing, adding they have heard little from residents on the other side of the argument who support the ban. McFadden said she cannot support removing the ordinance until city leaders rethink enforcement and work harder to prevent dog bites and attacks.
But with a majority of Council members supporting the change, the discussion will continue to the next meeting on Feb. 3.
