Last week the West Memphis Arkansas City Council received a report that singled out pit bulls as the majority offender in bites for 2012. According to the report there were 28 reported bites and 16 belonged to what was deemed to be pit bulls. Of those 16 bites, 13 were reported to have taken place on the dog owners property. As with all dog bites, children under 14 were the most likely to be bit. They claim the dogs were under the control of the owners at the time of the incidents but do not specify what constitutes control. There is also no numbers given as to the general population of what they consider pit bulls, giving no base for statistical analysis.
Councilman Tracy Catt reported to Channel 3 News that this report “is the reason behind a coming ordinance, although he did not elaborate on the ordinance specifics.”
We have found out that they are in fact planning on banning pit bulls.
Please reach out respectfully to offer breed neutral alternatives. Enforcement of current dangerous dog laws, leash law enforcement and increased penalties for violations for ALL dog owners have proven to reduce the number of dog related incidents where ever they are being enforced. Though there is a directory on the city website none of the councilors appear to have any contact information available.
The next council meeting is March 21st. Though there is no date set for the ordinance to be introduced it would be beneficial for residents to attend this meeting, as well as any others, to voice their opposition to breed specific laws.
Fred M. Kray
krisdiaz9
Stop BSL 
Dogs are a responsibility, as well as a joy, just as children are. Just as there are no guarantees that people will be responsible and caring parents, there are no guarantees that pet owners will be responsible and caring. Dangerous dogs should be controlled and their owners should be banned from owning dogs. With that said, it should be noted that specific breeds are not pre-programmed to be dangerous. Many so-called dangerous breeds are loving family members. Responsible laws should be adopted to control animals running loose. That should be for all animals, including cats. If a dog of any breed bites without provocation, that animal should be quarantined and the owner investigated. If it is found the the dog is neglected (read unsupervised) on a regular basis, then that dog should be confiscated. It should allowed to be adopted if it is found that the dog is trainable. There are things that can be done to protect the public from our animals without us turning into Nazis. People are the problem, always, not God’s animals.
There are couple people that you can contact that have email address Ms. Ramona Taylor in Ward 3, Mayors Office Dorothy Wallace, 2 City Attorneys David Peeples and Stephanie Lepard, and there are other people in the directory that you can contact. For the Ward Information go to Ward 3 and the email is there while the others you have to search in the directory site. I messaged these individuals and I hope more people do too.
I also recommend adding to the list City Police since police they respond to calls of stray and lost animals. There are couple people in the directory in the list.