The Lawton community takes the City Council with concerns about the possible Pit Bull Prohibition

Lawton, Okla. (KSWO) – The cameras of the Council within the Lawton City Council were full of community members waiting to listen to a “dangerous dogs” by the prosecutor of the city Alan Rosenbaum, specifically on the solutions presented. Two of the proposed solutions tried the prohibition of the American race Staffordshire Terrier, or Pit Bulls.

There were so many people that Lawton Mayor Stan Booker transferred the presentation to the top of the meeting.

The presentation of Rosenbaum focused on the behavior of the Pit Bulls, sharing statistics from the related attacks of the breed. It continues to declare more than 90% of the injuries come from Pit Bulls.

“Of those requests of 240 and so many years, around 180 of them would never have happened if there was a Pit Bulls ban,” Rosenbaum said.

There is a State Statute of Oklahoma that establishes that a municipality cannot be specific by placing regulations in dangerous dogs.

Despite being aware of the statute, Rosenbaum added that he has been in discussion with the lawyer of the city John Andrew, saying: “Maybe there are some ways to avoid that, I don’t know.”

After the presentation, Booker said there were about 25 applications to speak, but due to time limitations, only four were allowed to take to the podium.

When the mayor asked who approved the ban, the former councilor of Ward 2, Kelly Harris, turned to the podium, sharing a story of when he had previously attacked by the race.

“When I suddenly went from” we took this dog to its owner, “he was afraid,” said Harris.

However, most of those in the room did not agree with the idea of ​​a breed prohibition.

“Why are we wasting time trying to ban dogs and why we are not solving the real problem ahead,” said a worried community member. “Bad owners and lack of shelters …”

Others who resorted to the podium shared concerns about “Lawton’s animal welfare” that do not have the resources to adequately enforce the regulations that are already in force.

7News spoke with Cliff Blasgame, the superintendent of the shelter, then, who also said that it does not approve a prohibition.

“What I defend are the strictest ordinances to hold the owners responsible,” Blasngame said.

Fortunately, he also said that they have recently hired three new animal control officers to combat personnel scarcity.

After the community caused their voices to be heard, each member of the Council took the time to make their thoughts

All shared concerns about the responsibilities of the owners, cannot ignore these reported incidents and not want to impose a prohibition of a breed of specific dogs.

Although officials seem to recognize that a prohibition was not possible within the city, it was not addressed why a prohibition was proposed in the first place.

7News also spoke with Athena Niepinski, Fishy’s Friends Rescue founderthat he wants the city to be more proactive and not reactive.

“I don’t think it’s just for the dog,” said Nielipinski. “I think animals in general; Whether it is an Indian bunny, a horse, a dog or any type of race, I think animals are a mirror reflection of how they are treated. “

The Council ended the discussion without taking any measure.

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