Wichita, KS Animal Services study

Pits in the news and info on Breed Specific Legislation.

Postby cheekymunkee » June 24th, 2008, 11:45 pm

Increasing Number of Pit Bull Encounters in Wichita

Posted: June 23, 2008 08:08 PM CDT

Updated: June 24, 2008 02:11 AM CDT



Greg Mikesell was forced to make a choice.



"Essentially I had two options-either up a tree or in the river," says Mikesell.



Mikesell, an avid runner, was on his usual path down the Arkansas River last week when he was met by two pit bulls.



"I ran right up on them. They were right at the edge of the trail and the immediately attacked me. No warning, no barking."



He was bitten on the leg, but managed to escape.



"I was able to shimmy up the tree and get away from the dogs."



Mikesell's attack happened just as Wichita Animal Services is finishing a study it plans on presenting to the city council.



Here are some of the numbers from the first quarter (January-March) of this year:



41 (32%) of dog attacks and bites involved pit bulls
10 (67%) of the dogs deemed dangerous were pit bulls
23 (24%) of the dog bites were caused by pit bulls
615 (22%) of complaints involved one or more pit bulls
354 (24%) of all dogs impounded were pit bulls



Summary of pit bulls encountered by Wichita Police 2004 through 2007
In 2004 66% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.
In 2005 80% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.
In 2006 74% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.
In 2007 87% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.



"I think that when you look at the numbers and percentages and you have to say there's something wrong here," says Dennis Graves, Director of Wichita Animal Services.



Animal Services is not advocating a ban, it's been asked to present the city council with statistics. Overall, it's is finding it spends about a quarter of its time dealing with pit bulls.



"Everybody pays for it," says Graves.



The numbers from the second half the study are expected to be complete sometime next month.



http://www.kansascw.com/Global/story.asp?S=8544103


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Postby airwalk » June 25th, 2008, 9:27 am

41 (32%) of dog attacks and bites involved pit bulls
10 (67%) of the dogs deemed dangerous were pit bulls
23 (24%) of the dog bites were caused by pit bulls
615 (22%) of complaints involved one or more pit bulls
354 (24%) of all dogs impounded were pit bulls



Summary of pit bulls encountered by Wichita Police 2004 through 2007
In 2004 66% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.
In 2005 80% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.
In 2006 74% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.
In 2007 87% of all dogs encountered by PD were pit bull dogs.


What gets forgotten..from a purely mathematical perspective:


If 32% of attacks & bites involve Pit Bulls or mixes - that means 68% are something else.
67% of dogs deemed dangerous are Pit Bulls - however that is only 10 dogs. Our numbers are similar, does that mean that all Pit Bulls are more dangerous..not to us..it means that people are more likely to report incidents involving a Pit or mix than a lab.
24% of bites involve Pit Bulls - again that means that 76% are something else. We find that Pit Bulls are actually only somewhere around 10-15% of our known/reported bites.
24% of all dogs impounded are Pit Bulls - I would venture to bet this is for the same reasons they are about 15% of my intake and 40% of our euthanasia - they tend to be a sturdy breed that has large litters that all survive. Everytime there is a media story, the breed floods the shelters as owners and landlords panic.

We undertook a similar analysis last year. So the question then becomes do you respond to a breed or a behavior? Do you do a similar analysis on what other breeds make up the remainder of the percentages? When we did, we found Labs and mixes and Shepherds & mixes were the number 1 and number 3 breeds involved in the above. Yep you read that right, Labs were the most likely to be impounded and the most likely to be involved in a bite.
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