Humane Society of United States Will Train Officers
The City of Wichita is offering training in illegal animal fighting investigations April 29 and 30.
Animal control and law enforcement officers from Wichita, Sedgwick County and other areas will attend the training provided by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
“We have too many pit bull and rooster issues in Wichita,” said Kay Johnson, Environmental Services Director for the City of Wichita. “This training will help our officers identify and investigate potential animal fighting situations that may be partly to blame for these issues.”
HSUS estimates there are more than 40,000 people in organized dogfighting and 100,000 informal street dogfighters in the United States.
“While we haven’t had specific dog fighting cases recently, we see evidence of it in our shelter,” Johnson said. “This shows up by physical injury, deformity and scarring on pit bulls housed at the City’s Animal shelter. Also, large chains and weights are found by officers during cruelty and abuse investigations.”
Roosters were outlawed in Wichita several years ago. The ban has reduced but not eliminated the problem. Environmental Services often receives complaints from residents aggravated by the crowing. Rooster owners may be ticketed for violating the city code and are ordered to dispose of the animals.
The training will be conducted by two animal fighting experts, John Goodwin, Animal Fighting Issues Manager, HSUS, Washington, D.C. and Sergeant David Hunt, Special Investigations Unit, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Columbus, Ohio.
Guest speakers will be Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston and City of Wichita City Prosecutor Sharon Dickgrafe. The training will cover the history and motivations of animal fighting and connections to other felony crimes. The training will be conducted at the Wichita Area Builders Association building located at 730 N. Main.
Local sponsorship of the training includes donations from Spay Neuter Kansas and PALs Animal Rescue.
MEDIA NOTE: Wichita Environmental Services and Police Department pit bull statistics are provided below. Interviews will be granted by John Goodwin, on Tuesday, April 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Arrangements can be made by emailing Kay Johnson at kjohnson@wichita.gov. Video footage of animal fighting is available from HSUS by contacting Nadya Vera at (301) 258-3126.
Environmental Services Summary of Selected Pit Bulls Issues 2006 and 2007
Too many pit bull issues in 2006:
- 25% of dogs running at large were found to be pit bulls
- Of the 5400 dogs sheltered, about 1500 were pit bulls (26%)
- 33% of all dogs euthanized by City staff are pit bulls
- 30% of reported animal bites or attacks in the city of Wichita involves a pit bull
Too many pit bull issues in 2007:
- 35% of dogs running at large were found to be pit bulls
- Of the 6338 dogs sheltered, 1793 were pit bulls (28%)
- 38% of all dogs euthanized by City staff are pit bulls
- 28% of reported animal bites or attacks in the city of Wichita involves a pit bull
Summary of pit bulls encountered by Wichita PD 2004 through 2007
- In 2004 66% of all dogs encountered by WPD were pit bull dogs.
- In 2005 80% of all dogs encountered by WPD were pit bull dogs.
- In 2006 74% of all dogs encountered by WPD were pit bull dogs.
- In 2007 87% of all dogs encountered by WPD were pit bull dogs.
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