Tonganoxie, KS Repeals Breed Ban

A couple of weeks ago, the city council of Tonganoxie, KS (Population 5,165) UNANIMOUSLY repealed its 23 year old ban on pit bulls and Rottweilers. 

The change comes after area veterinarians, pet owners, a pet groomer and a pet boarder and representatives from the Leavenworth County Humane Society presented information to the council. After two months of thoughtful consideration, the city council unanimously supported repealing the law originally passed in 1993.

Tonganoxie considered repealing the law in 2009 after a family with a Rottweiler appealed to the council to let them keep their family pet.. However, after several months of debate the council decided against a repeal in spite of there being quite a bit of support at that time. 

This time there was little opposition to the change, and mostly overwhelming support for the repeal of the breed ban. The city has a behavior-based dangerous dog law that will still allow them to target dangerous dogs and owners, regardless of what breed they are.

Tonganoxie is at least the 19th city in Kansas to repeal its breed-specific law, and the 12th in just the past 2 1/2 years as more and more communities realize that targeting dangerous dogs based on appearance, and not behavior, is an inefficient and ineffective policy.  

Congrats to the great folks in Tonganoxie.

Here's a link to an earlier story by the Tonganoxie Mirror.

A more recent link to an article by News 6 in Lawrence.

Meeting Minutes to the Tonganoxie City Council Meeting where the ban was repealed are here. 

Comments

[Kim Krohn]

Thank you to anyone that worked on this effort.