KC Pet Project cited a pit bull owner for animal law violations near where dogs killed man
Two days after a Kansas City man was mauled by dogs so badly that he died from those injuries, the owner of a pit bull who lives in a house on the block where the attack occurred received two citations for allegedly violating the city’s animal control laws, The Star has learned.
John Thibeaux, 31, must appear in municipal court on Jan. 7. The citations make no mention of the incident on Nov 2, when Chris Culbertson, 46, was attacked by seven dogs while biking home on the 3200 block of East 80th Street.
The attack lasted 23 minutes and left Culbertson screaming for help as dogs ripped him apart, according to his sister.
Had he not died from his injuries on Nov. 6, Culbertson would have needed extensive surgery, his sister Angela Culbertson said. His right hand and left leg would have required amputation, she said, among other injuries that would have left him disabled for life.
Both citations were specific to a single male pit bull with gray and white coloring. One was for not having a license tag on the dog while outside Thibeaux’s house. The other was for failing to neuter the male pit bull as required by city code.
But more serious criminal charges have not been ruled out in connection with Chris Culbertson’s death after the police investigation.
A spokesman for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Wednesday that prosecutors are “looking at” possible criminal charges, but have not made a decision because the prosecutor assigned to the case has been busy with another case.
Across the country, dog owners or caretakers have been charged, tried and convicted of manslaughter and other crimes in cases where people were mauled and killed or seriously injured by dogs.
Among the most prominent cases centered on the death of a woman killed in 2001 by two dogs in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building. Two attorneys who were caring for a client’s dogs while he was serving a prison sentence were convicted of involuntary manslaughter. One of them was also convicted of second-degree murder and is still serving time in a California prison.
Thibeaux could not be reached by phone or email this week. A reporter did not knock on his door because of no trespassing signs on the fence surrounding a portion of the 1.25-acre property in a hilly and sparsely populated section of the Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City.
One sign said “Warning–There is nothing here worth dying for” with an illustration of a hand gripping a revolver alongside the text. Another, also with a gun depicted on it, said: “This Home is Protected by the good lord and a gun. If you come here to steal or do harm, you might meet both of them.”
Dogs on the block were a known issue
Several residents in the neighborhood had reported dangerous dogs to Kansas City’s Animal Services Division, which nonprofit KC Pet Project is contracted to run, before the attack. According to online data, officials in the Animal Services Division were aware of the potential danger of dogs in that area for nearly two years before the fatal attack.
For nearly every month since February 2023, Animal Services listed the block where Culbertson was attacked as an area where dogs were a potential public safety concern.
When animal control officers responded to the scene following the attack, the dogs were gone, according to KC Pet Project reports. The reports said staff continued to patrol the area frequently, hoping to encounter the aggressive dogs.
KC Pet Project declined The Star’s request to see all complaints filed for Thibeaux’s address and that of a neighboring property, citing the ongoing investigation into the attack.
But it did supply three other incident reports in the area involving dangerous dogs between November 2022 and February 2023. These dogs were reported as strays. Reports say these dogs were roaming the area near the woods and attacking pet dogs.
An unprovoked attack
The attack occurred outside near Thibeaux’s property around 10 p.m. on that first Saturday in November when Culbertson pedalled past on a bicycle.
Culbertson loved dogs, his sister said, and so he tried to calm the first two dogs when they approached him. Then five more dogs ran up, and the attack began.
Angela Culbertson said she knows this because she has seen footage from a security camera that captured the attack.
“(He) didn’t taunt them, didn’t do anything. They just came at him. He did nothing to them. It’s all on the video,” she said.
Angela Culbertson said the video showed two other dogs behind a fence trying to get out as the other seven dragged her brother toward the fence line. Thibeaux’s property is the only one on the block with a fence along the front property line on that street.
Angela Culbertson said KC Pet Project responded to the scene along with police and emergency personnel. The video shows them luring the dogs away from Culbertson so he could be taken to the hospital, she said, and then it shows them putting the dogs behind the fence.
That next day, when authorities returned to impound the dogs, all but two dogs were gone, police told her.
Who should run Kansas City’s animal control?
The attack has raised concerns about KC Pet Project’s enforcement of the city’s animal control ordinances.
The organization has run the city’s animal shelter under contract since 2012. In 2020, the city also put KC Pet Project in charge of animal control, which involves responding to complaints about animals and picking up strays, which had previously been the responsibility of city staff.
The animal control contract expired earlier this year on May 1, but both parties agreed to a one-year extension while city officials put the contract out for competitive bidding, to see if another organization would be a better fit.
KC Pet Project submitted the lone proposal, which a city review panel rejected on Dec. 2, according to Forest Decker, director of the city’s neighborhood services department.
Two days later, on Dec. 4, Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley of the 3rd District introduced a resolution calling for the city manager to study what it would take to once again have city employees enforce the city’s animal control ordinances.
City Manager Brian Platt has 30 days to come back to the council’s finance committee with his report.
The city turned animal control over to KC Pet Project after a city audit found that the city’s in-house enforcement efforts were ineffective at rescuing animals, cultivating a lack of trust within the community. The audit also found that the city was inconsistent in writing citations and that, in a sampling of 25 cases of abuse or neglect, city staff did not perform half of the follow-ups they were supposed to.
At the time, KC Pet Project was gaining national acclaim for its no-kill approach to managing the animal shelter. The group emphasized pet adoptions and educating the public on how to care for pets so they weren’t returned to the shelter after adoption.
But at a hearing on Tuesday, residents complained that KC Pet Project was putting more emphasis on protecting pets than on protecting people from the dangers that some animals present.
According to a petition in support of having the city take charge once again:
“Privatization has not worked. The City should take back control of animal services to ensure standards are met and the community’s values are represented. Because of Kansas City’s failure to enforce the laws, humans and animals are in constant and consistent danger.”
Patterson Hazley said Culbertson’s death was not the sole reason she supports a change, but “I wish we could have done something sooner.”
Even though the city is now studying the issue, it does not mean management of animal control will necessarily change, 4th District Councilman Eric Bunch said at Tuesday’s committee meeting.
“The ultimate decision (will be) predicated on the plan that’s brought back before us to see if we actually want to adopt it,” he said.
