KC DOG BLOG

A missed opportunity for improving public safety in Kansas City, KS

Last week, at meeting of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County meeting in Kansas City, KS, mayor Mark Holland called the situation involving stray and feral dogs in the community "a crisis". 

Commissioner Ann Murguia pointed to the standing-room crowd of in attendance and pleaded with her fellow commissioners to make animal control funding a priority. She noted that everyone knew animal control was under-funded, and that the large turnout showed how important the topic of animal control is to their community. 

In the end, the Commissioners made some positive changes, but didn't completely adopt all of the recommended proposals from their staff, and from experts in the community, to do what needs to be done to fix their situation. And the situation runs deep.

The animal crisis in KCK

Mayor Holland was right. There are major problems with animals in Kansas City, KS. And Commissioner Murguia is also correct, lack of funding is a huge part of that problem. 

And the situation is not new -- and the lack of ability to tackle the problem has caused it to grow incrementally over the years. 

Earlier this week, the Kansas City Star wrote a pretty telling story about the problems in Kansas City, KS. The problems range from scared joggers, to scared children, to people not wanting to move to areas that are struggling for revitalization, to more serious issues, including a man that was severely mauled by two dogs in April of this year.  Those same dogs had been involved in other incidents in the same neighborhood prior. 

Much of the problem is funding, and staffing. 

The International City/County Managers Association (ICMA) and the Humane Society of the United States both estimate that on average, communities spend about $8 per person on animal control enforcement and sheltering services.

Kansas City, KS spends half that amount.

For a city the size of Kansas City, KS, the Kansas Animal Control Association recommends that they should be operating with about 20 officers, however, they are currently working seven.

"We receive more calls in a day than we can go on," said Animal Control Director Captain Michelle Angell at the meeting. "We have to prioritize."

In addition to the poor funding, decades of mismanagement have increased the issues. While Captain  Angell, has worked very hard to improve the situation, years of lack of resources and mismanagement by previous managers are a lot ot overcome; especially with limited resources.

Because of this, resources are spread very thin -- to the point that the city's shelter facility isn't even open for public adoptions and animals there are completely reliant on area shelters and rescue organizations to save their lives. 

It's a mess. And it is a crisis.

 Jimmie Mae McConnell

The Kansas City, KS story cannot be completely told without telling the story of Jimmie Mae McConnell. In the summer of 2006, Ms. McConnell was attacked by two dogs while she was out in her yard gardening. 

The dogs lived at the home next door to Ms. McConnell. According to reports, the home did not have utilities and was deemed "uninhabitable" by codes enforcement officers. There were no human residents of the home.

Also according to published reports, Ms. McConnell had called animal control several times about the dogs living next door, and she was scared of the dogs. However, animal control officers never showed. And the dogs continued to live at the home until the day they jumped the fence and fatally attacked her while she gardened. 

The dogs were declared to be "pit bulls", and illegal under KCK code. The city quickly rounded up more than 150 pit bulls in the city and killed them.

While at the time, City leaders were quick to blame pit bulls for the attack, the reality is that it was the same lack of responsiveness that has allowed to the community to be over-run by strays that led to Ms. McConnell's death. There are not enough officers to respond to all of the calls. Animals are not attended to. Balls get dropped. People end up badly injured. It's the same story. And in Ms. McConnell's case, it ended in tragedy.

The Proposal

Everyone involved in KCK understands the situation. And most everyone wants to make it better. Nearly a year ago, Captain Angell began meeting with key parties, and the county legal department, to create a proposal to help make things better in Kansas City, KS.

The idea was really pretty simple. Simplify the laws, and make it so that animal control officers could use their limited resources to target the largest problem areas first. Receive fewer calls, but be sure they are the right calls that need to be attended to.

 -- Quit wasting time on rounding up free-roaming cats.

 -- Quit wasting time targeting owners who had three dogs but were not causing problems (city code prohibited owning more than 2 dogs without a special permit). 

 -- Quit wasting time on targeting non-aggressive pit bulls -- which was tying up resources while they were held up in court proceedings....and many of the cases ended up being false breed identifications. 

Instead, focus the limited resources on the categories that would make the BIGGEST impact in improving public safety:

  -- Priority 1: Dangerous/aggressive dogs

  -- Priority 2: Stray dogs

  -- Priority 3: Nuisance animals

That's it.  Focus.  

So the animal control advisory committee, which included the KCK Legal Department and Captain Angell put together a proposal for the County Commission. It included a very well-written dangerous dog law (based on behavior). It included a very well-written nuisance dog law (that targeted nuisance/aggressive behaviors before they escalated to bites). It included allowing for TNR for community cats. It included increasing the number of dogs a family could own from 2 to 3.

The proposal also recommended to repeal the city's 25 year old ban on pit bulls -- because any problem pit bulls would be captured with the new nuisance dog/dangerous dog laws, and focusing resources on pit bulls not caught under those laws was focusing resources on dogs that were not problems or threats in their community (and thus, a waste of the limited resources). The repeal of the ban on pit bulls also reflects the recommendation of the National Animal Control Association, the Kansas Animal Control Association, and virtually every organization of animal professionals in the country. 

It is also worth mentioning that while the law was originally written to apply to the entire county of Wyandotte County, all of the other cities in Wyandotte County have repealed their bans in recent years: including Edwardsville in 2007, Basehor in 2013 and Bonner Springs earlier in 2014. 

Strong support for change

The legal changes were presented to the commission committee. During the discussion, there were nearly 100 people in the audience for the session. Many spoke. In total, 83 people in the audience said they supported the changes to their animal control ordinance in their entirety. Only 10 did not.

The proposal passed unanimously out of the committee.

When the law made it to the full commission, there was a packed house anticipating the discussion. While no official count was taken of the support for each side, I was in attendence and estimate that more than 150 people were there in full support of the ordinance changes. There were roughly 20 that opposed them.

The supporters of the full amendment changes reflected a lot of Kansas City, KS residents, and representation from every single animal welfare organization that was featured in the Kansas City Star article from yesterday.   It's worth noting that all of these groups are not only highly knowledgable about animals, but also are investing their personal time, money and resources into trying to improve the crisis conditions in Kansas City, KS. These groups and individuals are so highly invested in the success of the community that they are busting their butts for FREE to try to help fix it. 

The roughly 20 people that were there opposing the changes all appeared to be close friends and family members to Ms. Jimmie Mae McConnell. My heart goes out to the McConnell family, who suffered greatly because the system was badly broken. But is was painful to see them opposing the organizations and people who were investing their time and expertise to try to fix a broken system -- and by doing so, defending the status quo. The status quo is the broken system that not only  failed to protect their beloved family member, but may have directly led to the lack of protection she needed that could have prevented it.

And in the end, the vote ended up feeling like a snub. While many of the changes thankfully made it through, the lack of willingness to repeal the breed ban will only continue to create havoc and divert resources for the city's animal control officers. This diversion of limited resources will continue spiral of failure that has led to the crisis situation they're in now. 

The Final Vote

In the end, the Wyandotte County Unified Government Commission took the following action on initiatives in Kansas City, KS:

        -- They approved a law approving the allowance of TNR for community cats as opposed to the former             policy that was more geared toward "catch & kill".

       -- They voted to increase the number of dogs allowed per home without a special permit from 2 to 3.

       -- They approved, at least in principal (they are working on some small, but not insignificant,             languange changes in the ordinance), to a very well-worded, breed neutral, nuisance animal and             dangerous animal law. 

However, in spite of overwhelming support for a repeal, the city council failled to repeal its 25 year old ban on "pit bulls". The law was enacted in the late 1980s when the initial hysteria around pit bulls took hold and while the amount of science, knowledge and expertise has changed opinions across the country, several commissions still insisted on falling back on emotional hysteria instead of facts and expert opinion.

One commissioner even noted that he didn't believe that pit bulls as a breed were a problem, and that it was completely an ownership issue, and still voted to uphold the ban.

And  I'll be honest, I'm not sure I've ever seen a city completely ignore their city staff leadership the way that several of the commissioners did last week. When you know that animal control is a huge issue in your city, and your director of animal control and legal department come to you and say they need these changes need to be made to make it better, and you ignore them, the problems are now on your hands as a commissioner. And the problems are still very real.

The final vote on the repeal was 4-4.  According to their commission code, a law needs 6 votes to pass. With one commission position open, and one commissioner out of town the night of the vote, it came down to a 4-4 tie, with the mayor abstaining because his vote would not have mattered. 

While I"m happy for some of the very positive changes in the community, I don't have a lot of confidence that there will be major improvements until the city begins funding its animal control division appropriately and they actually listen to the people who are working hard to make the situation better. 

Photo credit: Kansas City Star

Priorities askew in Kansas City, KS

Yesterday I wrote about Kansas City, KS' animal control driving through neighborhoods and knocking on doors looking for unaltered dogs to ticket people under the city's mandatory spay/neuter ordinance.

While it all seems really bad when you see it happening, I think it's important to put what they're doing into some context....and when you do, their actions seem even worse.

Six weeks ago there was another story about KCK animal control.  The story involved the mother of a 10 year old boy that was bitten multiple times by a neighbor's dog.  It seems the boy was chased by the dog, then bitten in the leg and in the back. Paramedics at the scene recommended stitches to the young boy and the mother had to take her son to the hospital. However, she went to the local tv station when she became frustrated that animal control would not come out and even talk to the dog owner. The mother said at one point the animal control officer told her he 'didn't feel like dealing with it tonight."

Nice.

According to the mother:

"I don't feel like there's been any real concern over my 10-year-old son being attacked by a dog."

So while animal control feels like it can go around and look for unaltered animals, the limited staff doesn't feel like it is important to go deal with biting dogs.

Meanwhile, as many in the comments yesterday pointed out, a local humane organization is trying helping KCK with the MSN sweeps in hopes of keeping pets from entering the shelter....although KCK has MORE than enough ordinances that are causing them to enter the shelter - -including the MSN, but also a ban on 'pit bulls' and also a pet limit of no more than 2 dogs (which is bad without taking into account that a fair amount of the county is fairly rural).

When put in perspective, the KCK sweeps become even more ridiculous -- as they seem to be all about punishing low-income pet owners, but could care less about dogs biting children. 

 

Burning a bridge vs building one

The folks over in Kansas City, KS have begun doing door-to-door sweeps looking for unaltered dogs in order to get people to comply with the city's mandatory spay/neuter ordinance.

The city officers said they tried to go out and educate people last year about the city law that mandates that people spay/neuter their pets.

Now, the "education" is turning into tickets. With officers now leaving not only a low cost spay/neuter voucher on their door, but also a "hefty" fine. (I'm not sure what exactly "hefty" means and the fines for not altering your pets are not listed in the KCK bylaws -- however, they have two set fine amounts that other violations fall under -- one at $200 and one at $50....so it is likely that the $200 fine is the one being given out as I doubt news stations would use the word "hefty" over a $50 fine).

There is a woman interviewed in the video - and she said she was very grateful about receiving the $20 spay/neuter voucher because when she had called about getting her pet altered before it was $300 - which she couldn't afford.  However, with the ticket, she is now barely better off that she was before.

Study after study has shown that the #1 reason people don't alter their pets is because of cost -- and that if we as an animal welfare community HELP them comply (and let's face it, the desire to have pets spay/neutered is to help US, not necessarly the owner or the the pet) by offering low-cost services that they will do so. And not only will they do say, they will be HAPPY with the help.  However, this is not KCK's approach. In a county that has over 20% of the population living below the poverty line, they have taken the ticket and punish approach -- further building a wall and burning the bridge between pet owners and animal control officers and humane organizations.  And just in time for the holiday season no less.

And then, what happens if owners like the one in the video don't comply -- or can't afford to pay their fine?  What happens to the pets then?  Are they eventually confiscated and added to the shelter population?  Is the woman jailed for not paying fines, leaving her pets ownerless? 

This is why voluntary programs work better. They help pet owners and celebrate the human/animal bond...vs trying to destroy it. And they build bridges between the low-income pet owners and the people who are most able to help them (and their pets) vs burning the bridge.

KCK doesn't get that....and burn baby burn.

Top 10 Animal Welfare Stories for Kansas City for 2009

 Tomorrow, I will cover the top stories for the year throughout the US, but today we're going to focus on the top animal welfare stories of the year in the Kansas City metro. Because of a lot of the great work by a lot of great groups we are making progress toward eliminating the senseless killing of animals in our city --- but it hasn't been without its struggles. So today are the best and the worst of what was animal welfare news in the Kansas City metro in 2009.

1) Saving lives in Kansas City, KS

After years and years of consistent killing in the Kansas City, KS shelter, the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City worked a deal with the shelter that would allow them to pull animals from the shelter for adoption. For the first 8 months of the year, KCK's euthanasia rate went from 56% to less than 4%.  In 2008 the KCK shelter killed nearly 1500 stray pets -- through September of this year they had euthanized only 66 -- all of which they say showed "extreme aggression".  I still have concerns that with the city's current laws -- including MSN, BSL and very restrictive pet limits - that this is sustainable long term, but the early success by HSGKC and their "Ray of Light" program earns the top spot for news item of the year.

2) Kansas City, MO shelter privatizes

In February of this year, Kansas City, MO voted to privatize the shelter operations and allow a local organization, Half Way Home Animal Shelter, to run the shelter operations for the city. Nearly instantly, the number of animals adopted from Half Way Home went up from about 75-100 animals getting adopted out per month to over 300. In 2008, the Kansas City animal shelter, under public control, euthanized 64% of the animals that it impounded.  Things will be better for 2009 -- and will come at a savings of $175,000 to the city. While the new situation hasn't been without its struggles, the step in the right direction makes this the year's #2 story.

3) Greenwood Missouri Repeals BSL

Greenwood, MO became the third local community to repeal a long-standing ban on "pit bulls" -- and replaced the breed specific legislation with a behavior-based ordinance.. The community had worked hard to re-work their animal control contract to be handled by nearby Lee's Summit, which allowed them more options with the change in their dog ordinance.  An article in the Greenwood Dispatch noted that Greedwood was on the "leading small communities in the area with regard to dog legislation." KC Dog Advocates members worked with the city for more than a year to assist them with the repeal.

4) KCMO Adopts New "Performance Standards" for Animal Control

One of the struggles that has affected the success of the new privatized Animal Shelter, is an increase in impound numbers from KCMO Animal Control. With more ACOs on the streets, more animals are coming in, making the shelter workers at Half Way Home's job more difficult. In August, KCMO AC instituted a new quota system, er, "Performance Standards" that is setting minimums for the number of animals being brought in by animal control officers. Instead of incenting mediation and working to keep animals in homes, the animal control is incenting officers to bring more dogs into the shelter.Unfortunately, they based their minimum quota number off of their summer numbers - that if met during winter months, would dramatically increase the intake rate at the shelter.

5) Spay/Neuter Kansas City Opens up new facility

With the help of some city and county dollars, Kansas City's largest low cost/no cost spay/neuter facility opened up a new facility at 59th and Troost in Kansas City (Pictured).  In 2008, SNKC altered 5600 dogs and cats, and with the new facility, is expecting that number to go up to around 8,000 in 2009, and more in 2010. SNKC really does a great job serving the needs of the low-income population of Kansas City and the new location -- both in size and better location for them -- will continue their great work.  SNKC also runs a great outreach program as well.

6) Animal Haven Opens up Mall Adoption Center for the Holidays

Animal Haven, an animal shelter that handles all animal control intake for 11 communities in the Kansas City metro (all in Johnson County, KS) opened up a satellite adoption center at Oak Park Mall for the holiday season. With still a week left in their 5 week lease, Animal Haven had adopted out 159 animals from the mall location.

7) Kansas City Dog Park Chaos

After two years of study, a Citizen's Task Force made recommendations on park locations that would be suitable for possible dog parks in the city. However, after a month of review, the Kansas City Missouri Parks Board scrapped the recommendation and decided to institute awhole set of arbitrary rules for the dog parks -- virtually insuring that about 90% of the parks in the city -- and all of the ones in urban neighborhoods -- can never have a dog park.  The decision left a black eye on the political process in the city, and is poor for urban neighborhoods and dog owners in the city.

8) Kansas Citians step up for good causes

In late August, the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City sent out a plea for help. The Ray of Light Program (See #1) had been saving the lives of hundreds of animals in Kansas City, KS, but the additional cost to HSGKC was running at about $10,000 a month. Because of the high expense, the program was in jeopardy of running out of money, so they sent out a plea for financial help. Within the week, the program had received just under $100,000 in donations. Even local rescue group The Pet Connection helped in the fundraising efforts. The support for the program was an amazing testiment to the willlingness of the public to help out organizations and programs that are doing it right -- but it also speaks to the need to make some improvements in the KCK laws to make the progress sustainable.  HSGKC is doing great work, but needs municiple support. 

Kansas Citians also stepped up for The Pet Connection earlier this year after thousands of dollars in kennels and fencing were stolen from their facility. They sent out a plea for help and thousands of dollars more than needed were raised in a short amount of time. Kansas Citians will support good animal welfare organizations.

9) Animal Haven Announces Plans for New Shelter

Animal Haven had a public conference that showed plans for a proposed new shelter in Lenexa that would more than triple the current amount of space for their shelter. Animal Haven operates as a no-kill shelter for all animals impounded in 11 metro cities, but a new facility would greatly enhance their operation and ability to grow with the communities they serve. Animal Haven is currently raising money for this new facility.

10) Revised Animal Legislation -- some good, most bad - around the metro

Back in early November, Prairie Village, KS passed a law that would allow police and animal control officers to enter fenced back yards to impound barking dogs. While officials say they will only enforce the law as a last resort -- preferring instead to go through the old proceedure and contacting the pet owner and getting them to comply with noise restrictions. I'm no fan of consistently barking dogs -- especially when they interrupt my sleep, however, it seems allowing dogs to be confiscated just for barking is a recipe for increasing shelter intakes which seldom ends well for the dogs -- and may very well be unconstitutional. The PV law is just another example of municiple code that is making it harder for our local rescues and shelters.

Also this year, Independence, MO passed a law that gave more flexibility in their pet limit -- allowing four dogs or cats vs just two dogs and two cats. However, in March, Independence refused to pass new legislation that would protect feral cats and allow for TNR for feral cats in their community.

Overland Park, KS adjusted its polciy that requires 10-day holds at the shelter for animals that commit minor bites if the animal has proof of rabies vaccination. The new policy instead allows for the pets to be on 10-day quarantine in their own homes. The new policy will take pressure off of the shelter to make space for the animals while they are on hold.

As you can see, we have a lot of really great things going on in the KC metro. However, we are in dire need of the municipalities to work WITH rescue groups and shelters to make Kansas City a better city for pets and pet owners (and eventually, a no-kill metro). There are still way too many laws such as breed bans, mandatory spay/neuter, overly restrictive pet limit laws - and policies such as quotas -- that are dramatically inreasing intake numbers throughout the metro putting undue pressure on the rescue community and costing animals their lives. We MUST get municiple support to advance our cause.  And that support will ONLY come from the citizens in their communities DEMANDING it - -and voting in dog-friendly candidates.

Communities support successful organizations, but we need city support

Over the past 8 months, Kansas City, KS has ceased being a death trap for animals. In 2008, the KCK shelter killed roughly 4300 animals, but new leadership within animal control in KCK has at least led them to the decision to begin working with the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City to begin adopting out animals from the shelter -- instead of allowing the shelter to remain a death trap.  And adopt out animals they have done.

Since the first part of the year, the HSGKC has taken an abysmal kill rate of 56% to where only less than 4% of the adoptable dogs and cats in the shelter are being killed.  The success has been amazing -- and a true testimate that it IS possible to adopt your way to no kill.

However, two weeks ago, the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City sent out  a plea for money.  The costs of running the off-site adoptions, and for the staffing, and for the care of all the animals they were adopting out were starting to mount.

And the citizens in Kansas City responded in a big way -- as of Friday, the HSGKC had received nearly $100,000 in donations.

If you do things the right way, and work your butt off to save the lives of animals, the communities you serve will recognize it and step up to help you do it.  In Kansas City, they just did.

This is all great for the animals in KCK and for HSGKC.  But my fear is that unless the city government gets involved, their success will not be sustainable. The city animal control is still confiscating too many animals from home good homes because of laws that are on the books. They are still pulling every dog out of homes that even remotely looks like a 'pit bull' -- dogs like Brutus, Roscoe and Nikko  -- because of the city's breed ban. They are still confiscating animals from homes because they are unalterd due to the city's ordinance mandating spay/neuter -- instead of just encouraging them to use HSGKC's low-cost spay/neuter options and leaving the animals in the home.  They're still confiscating too many animals because of the city's overly restrictive pet limit law.

The city could really ease the burden on HSGKC by repealing some of the laws that are a) taking well-cared for, well behaved animals out of people's homes unnecessarily and b) removing some of the restrictions that make adopting animals into homes more difficult.

If the city government could get on board, the work they and HSGKC are doing will not only continue success -- but will be completely sustainable.

The citizens and taxpayers are clearly supportive. 

And the citizens throughout the

A little good news coming from Kansas City, KS's shelter

There is aninteresting article from the Kansas City Star this week with some great news for animals in Kansas City, KS.

For years, KCK has been a black hole for animals. The facility routinely killed the majority of the animals that entered the shelter and were mostly unwilling to work with local rescue groups to save them.  Last year, the shelter killed about 4,300 animals.

But a new animal control director, Rodney Smith, has helped change that. A new coalition that calls themselves "Ray of Hope" is now moving the majority of the animals out of the KCK shelter and safely into rescues.  There are several rescue groups -- particularly the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, the Pet Connection, and others that are working with KCK in order to safely find homes for animals.

This year, thus far, the shelter has killed on about 4% of the "adoptable" animals in the shelter -- and the group has saved about 800 dogs since January.

Several factors have been declared keys to their success.

1) Availability of low-cost spay/neuter clinics.

2) A network of area farmers that are willing to take in feral cats to roam their barns.

3) Off site adoptions at major shopping centers on the weekends.

4) Help of volunteers.

5) And I'd add: Animal Control management that was willing to work with the rescue groups in the first place.

KCK still has some issues. They are still taking too many animals from good homes because of the way they look based on the city's breed ban. I would also still like to see how many animals are considered "unadoptable" and killed.  The city repealing its 20 year old breed ban would really be helpful for these rescue groups.

However, I'm thrilled that the shelter is no longer an abyss for animals with no hope of escape.

Kansas City Kansas' struggles with BSL continue

 A couple of weeks ago, Kansas City, KS confiscated yet another dog -- this one named Brutus, from his home.

Brutus was confiscated because animal control insisted that he was a pit bull. Fortunately for Brutus' owners, they actually KNOW what type of dog Brutus is.  The owners of Brutus' parents, a Boxer and a Rottweiler, came to his trial to free him from his captivity.

After 2 weeks in the KCK dog prison, Brutus was released back to his owners. All of the family's fines were dropped and Brutus is a free dog.  You may note that this is becoming quite the recurring theme for KCK.  You may note, that earlier this Spring, KCK confiscated Nikko, who spent 9 months in jail while his parents worked to set him free. DNA testing showed him to not be predominently 'pit bull' and he was set free.  You may also note the story about Roscoe, where the dog was confiscated for 2 months while the parents worked to get him free. You may also note the story about Fleas, who was spared death after veterinarians testified that the dog was indeed, not a pit bull -- even though 19 puppies on the property were killed for being "pit bulls" (they weren't 'pit bulls' either. 

Anyone else notice a trend? And a lot of resources being used up trying to determine whether or not a whole bunch of non-aggressive dogs should be banned?

However, Brutus' story isn't finished. In just 2 weeks at the KCK dog prison, Brutus came home 10 pounds lighter. He had a staph infection, kennel cough, swollen joints, and the pads on his feet were badly swollen.  He had fluid in both of his elbows and 1 chipped tooth.

The pitcture on the top is Brutus' before picture, the pic to the left are all of Brutus' ribs 13 days later.

Seriously.

This is a dog that just LOOKED like it might be a 'pit bull'. It wasn't running loose. It wasn't aggressive. It was just a dog. And because of KCK's pit bull ban, not only was the dog taken in, it was completely neglected for two weeks while the people went through the court hearings (including providing pictures of the dog's parents).  In just two weeks, Brutus was in terrible shape.

For fun, I am posting Brutus' parents' pictures for your enjoyment.

Folks, we MUST put an end to the neglect and abuse of power that is going on in KCK. No one is safe from getting their dog confiscated. And no dog appears to be safe in their shelter. If you are interested in helping, please contact us at [email protected]  We cannot allow this to continue nor should any taxpayer in that city deem this as a good use of tax dollars.  Their law continues to be a complete failure and a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.

Kansas City, KS Public Works and Safety Committee Meeting

Last night, several members of KC Dog Advocates and several residents of KCK met with the Public Works and Safety Committee.

The focus of the meeting was on how KCK's ban on 'pit bulls' is actually making the public LESS safe.  Not more safe.

Basically, because of the ban, the Animal Control Officers (someone at the meeting said there are only two in KCK, a city of 150,000+) are focusing so much time and energy on 'pit bulls', that they're doing nothing to deal with the stray dog problem and aggressive dogs of other types. It doesn't take much of a look back to see where some of their problems are coming.

Earlier this year I wrote a lot about Nikko -- a dog that was confiscated from the owners for being a 'pit bull'.  After spending 8 months at the KCK kennel, and several court hearings and a DNA test, Nikko was deemed not a pit bull and returned to the owners.

Then there's the story of Roscoe, a dog that was adopted from the KCK shelter as a "Shepherd Mix", but then later confiscated from the owners.  After a couple of months in the shelter, and a couple of court hearings, Roscoe was returned home.

A year ago, a woman won a court case against the city when she had 3 dogs and 19 puppies confiscated from her yard and all but one of the dogs was killed in the shelter for allegedly being 'pit bulls'. However, later, in court, it was determined that the dogs were indeed not 'pit bulls'.

There is also a woman in the video in the Fox News Story, that is getting harrassed by the city because her service dog, Friscoe, is banned by the city.

And these stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

But what it shows is that the Animal Control Officers, who are already strapped for time and resources, are investing way too much time, money, and court dealings with dogs that AREN'T AGRESSIVE.  Because of this, the city is less safe because real problems aren't being addressed by the animal control officers.  As evidence of this, the only dog attack fatality to happen in the metro in over a decade happened in KCK -- by two dogs that the victim called about on numberous occassions as being aggressive but were never dealt with by animal control.

Hopefully this will progress and people will begin listening. 

Here's the report from KCTV5.

And from Fox4.