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Animal-control official urges focus on owners, not breed bans after bite data review
Summary
An animal-control official presented three years of bite-report data to the Marion City Council, argued breed bans are ineffective and delivered a redlined draft of a consolidated dangerous-dog ordinance for council review.
An animal-control official told the Marion City Council that focusing on owners and clearer dangerous-dog rules would be more effective than a breed ban after presenting three years of bite-report numbers.
The presenter (Agency official) said the department recorded 59 bite reports in 2023, 46 in 2024 and 43 in 2025 and estimated, by visual assessment, that roughly 26% of recent incidents involved "pibble"-type mixes while about 2% involved Rottweilers. "I don't think it is the breed whatsoever. I think it's the owner," the official said, arguing the data point to education and enforcement targeted at behavior and ownership practices rather than breed-based restrictions.
The official said Kansas law treats animals as property and that enforcement of a breed ban would often require court involvement to remove animals from private homes, a step she said is difficult to obtain for a city-code violation. She pointed to Denver's recent repeal of a breed ban as an example of jurisdictions that determined the policy did not improve public safety and instead generated enforcement costs.
The presenter described current local practice for designating a dog "dangerous," which involves a court process, and said the department prefers education and owner-focused remedies. She outlined partnerships and resources the department uses post-incident to address behavior problems, including referrals to local trainers and nonprofit partners she named during the session.
To help the council consider code changes, the official said she had prepared a consolidated, redlined version of the city's dangerous-dog ordinance to make scattered language easier to read and enforce. "I did rewrite your guys' ordinance just to kind of give an idea of what it would look like," she said, adding the red sections show suggested changes.
Council members asked for the rewritten ordinance to be circulated and scheduled for review; the official and Chair agreed to follow up and bring the materials to a future meeting for consideration.
The council did not vote on any ordinance changes at the session; the official said the draft is intended to prompt discussion rather than to enact immediate policy.
What happens next: The presenter will share the redlined draft with council leadership for formal placement on a future agenda, and the council will determine whether to refer the draft to staff or legal review before any ordinance hearing.
