SHERWOOD, Ark. — At the Sherwood City Council meeting held on Monday, over an hour was spent on one topic— whether to ban or not to ban pit bulls.
It’s been a popular topic of discussion this year as some residents and officials want to lift the ban that’s been in place since 2017.
"We believe that it's an ownership issue, not a breed-specific issue,” said Krista Anderson, who attended the meeting and is in favor of lifting the ban.
Anderson explained how it's not the dogs that are dangerous. Instead, she thinks it's irresponsible owners.
"We're punishing the good citizens who are here by not letting them have the dogs that they want to have for the few bad citizens that are behaving badly,” Anderson added.
It's an argument that officials with the Sherwood Animal Shelter have also been making.
“I’m in favor of lifting the ban because I believe that each individual dog should be judged by its own behaviors,” said Chris Clark, Civilian Supervisor for Sherwood Humane Animal Services.
The animal shelter also has a special interest in lifting the ban. They explained how they’ve been filling up with good dogs that can’t be adopted out.
"We have one dog here that has had numerous attempts to be adopted but because the people live in North Little Rock or Sherwood, they cannot have the dog,” Clark said. “That's the only reason he has not been adopted."
He's referring to Hashbrown, a mixed-breed pit bull who has been in the shelter for nearly two years and who Clark said would make a great pet.
However, others claim the dogs are just too dangerous.
One pediatric nurse who was in attendance at Monday’s meeting said that pit bulls cause damage that other dogs don't.
“I have definitely seen kids be scalped. I have seen sweet little girls that have had their faces mauled up,” she said. “It’s just not acceptable to have a breed that attacks like those dogs do, and our community is at risk.”
The proposed new ordinance would remove breed-specific language, and instead focus on vicious dogs of any breed, allowing some pit bulls to be kept as pets.
It will be read again at a city council meeting on August 26, before a decision is made on how or if they decide to move forward with it.
The current ordinance can be found here, while the proposed changes can be found beginning on page 76 of this document.