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Missouri:

Merriam Woods passes ordinance on pit bulls
By Donna Clevenger

MERRIAM WOODS — Tuesday evening, the Merriam Woods Board of Trustees passed a tough ordinance on pit bulls without a whimper of protest from anyone present.

“I’m just surprised that nobody said a word — either for or against,” Chief of Police Jerry Pagan said after the meeting. “Since we proposed this ordinance, I have not had one Merriam Woods resident say they were opposed to it.”

Pagen said he had tracked a similar ordinance passed by Springfield to see if that city could prosecute residents who didn’t comply.

The Merriam Woods ordinance allows for pit bull dogs to be kept in the city limits only if the owners comply with penning the dog so that it may not be at large, and registering the dog annually.

Registration includes a visual inspection of the dog, proof of rabies vaccination, a $50 registration fee, proof of the dog being spayed or neutered, and implantation of a microchip by a veterinarian, at the owner’s expense.

The registration is not transferable to any other pit bull. Failure to comply and remain in compliance with all of the terms, “shall subject the pit bull to immediate impoundment and disposal.”

What happened to Claude McGeough may have been the final incident that pushed the trustees to pass such an ordinance specifically targeting pit bulls.

“I was sitting in my house and I saw through the window two pit bulls come up on my porch,” McGeough related about how he and his neighbor became involved in an incident that ended with him being bitten by the dogs.

He called 911 and got the county sheriff’s office, but before they could send out assistance, McGeough was engaged in a struggle with the two Pit Bulls as he tried to rescue his own two dogs, chained in the yard. As soon as he stepped out of his house, McGeough stated, the female Pit Bull came at him and bit him on the back of the leg. He still has deep red scars after six weeks.

“My black Lab got ahold of one behind the ear — we struggled for about 30 minutes trying to separate them. My neighbor finally hit the dog with an iron skillet, and it lay there until the county officer came,” he continued.

When the Taney County Animal Control officer arrived, he confined the one dog, but the other is currently still loose as far as Pagan knows. The brindle and brown dog has been sighted recently in the area.

McGeough had to receive a series of shots — a vaccine for rabies — because that dog is still at large and could not be tested. He said the incident cost him $2,000 in medical bills.

The Merriam Woods ordinance is modeled on the one passed more than a year ago by the Springfield city council. Springfield reported in May this year that their vicious dog complaints had been reduced by 33 percent. Vicious dogs are a problem in rural Taney County, and pit bull dogs lead the pack in Merriam Woods, according to Pagan.

“I would say that 85 percent of all of our dog attacks in Merriam Woods have been pit bull or pit bull half-breeds,” Pagan said, adding that while not many people have been bitten, he frequently answers calls of threatening dogs and pit bulls killing other animals.

Rockaway Beach City Clerk Susan Kettelkamp confirmed that their city council would be looking closely at the ordinance just passed by Merriam Woods to solve a similar problem with stray or wild dogs.

Police Chief Bob Carpenter reported a confrontation last year with a small pack of dogs in which a bystander, who tried to assist him in capturing the dogs, was bitten.

“We have a dangerous dog problem — not pit bulls like they do. We’re going to really take a look at (the ordinance). We are a tourist town where people bring their dogs, but we want to keep people safe. We’re pleased they did pass it,” Kettelkamp said.


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