An infant is still in critical condition after being bitten by a pit bull Thursday at a Prairie Village home.
Sgt. Josh Putthoff told the Post in a Monday afternoon interview that the bite incident took place at the dog owner’s home while the owner was taking care of the infant. The dog owner is not the child’s parent.
Prairie Village Police officers responded to a call on Thursday around 9:30 p.m. from Children’s Mercy hospital in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and learned that “the infant was attacked by a pit bull,” Puttholf said.
The incident itself took place in the 4900 block of West 72nd Terrace earlier Thursday evening.
The dog has since been euthanized at the request of the owner.
While filling in some of the blanks concerning what happened Thursday evening, Puttholf provided the following information:
- The incident occurred inside the Prairie Village residence, and as such, the dog was unleashed.
- This specific dog had no history of aggression within Prairie Village and was not known to law enforcement.
- Prairie Village police are still investigating the incident.
The incident comes five years after the city of Prairie Village repealed its ban on pit bulls.
Before the city formally repealed the pit bull ban in 2020, residents, veterinarians and dog trainers had pushed the city for years to lift it.
It is unclear how many, if any, dog attacks involving pit bulls have taken place in Prairie Village since the city lifted the ban. The Post has requested this information from the city police department and will update this story when the data becomes available.
The infant remains in critical condition
- Putthoff declined to confirm the age of the infant out of respect for the family’s privacy.
- Putthoff also declined to confirm the relationship between the dog owner and the family of the infant, whether they are related by family or otherwise.
- It is unclear whether the infant is expected to make a full recovery, Putthoff said.
- “We are in contact with the family, and the infant is still in critical condition,” Putthoff said.
Prairie Village lifted its pit bull ban 5 years ago
In February 2020, the Prairie Village City Council voted 9-2 to repeal the city’s pit bull ban.
At that time, the city received more than 80 emails from residents and heard from more than a dozen speakers who supported lifting the ban.
Several animal rights groups supported repealing the ban, but the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had a differing take.
PETA sent a letter to the city after the vote had already been taken that cited concerns about fully repealing the ban and urged the city council to consider requiring pit bulls to be spayed or neutered or to be kept indoors unless being walked by an adult on-leash.
Some former city leaders had warned the city about the potential impact of allowing pit bulls in the city without any restrictions.
Former Ward 4 councilmember Sheila Myers wrote a letter in 2020 — read during a February city council meeting by former Ward 5 councilmember Courtney McFadden — indicating that she would only support a repeal of the pit bull ban if there were additional restrictions such as the following:
- Pit bull owners have a 6-foot high fence
- Pit bulls are leashed or muzzled when off owner’s property
- Owners provide obedience training for the dog
- The dog is spayed or neutered as well as microchipped
“If those restrictions are included in the ordinance, I would support a repeal,” Myers wrote. “If council votes to repeal without restrictions, then every council member who votes in favor will bear responsibility when, not if, a pit bull mauls a dog or person in Prairie Village.”
Years before that 2020 vote, the city considered lifting the pit bull ban. In 2016, the city council heard from more than 30 speakers who supported lifting the city’s ban on pit bulls. That September, the city council upheld the ban in a 7-5 vote.
City leaders offer “thoughts and prayers”
Mayor Eric Mikkelson, who supported lifting the ban when talks came up in 2016, told the Post via text on Monday that any appropriate next steps will be identified after the investigation. He said his priority is keeping the city “among the safest communities in the country, especially for children.”
Mikkelson did not vote on the repeal that was approved in 2020 because he was already the mayor, who only votes in the event of a tie. Still, Mikkelson made a motion to repeal the pit bull ban in 2016 when he was a councilmember.
“This is a horrible, heart-breaking incident,” Mikkelson said. “The infant and family have been in my thoughts and prayers for recovery hourly. As a father, I can only imagine their grief.”
Councilmember Ian Graves, who voted in favor of the repeal in 2020 as a newly elected councilmember, said the positions of the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations is what ultimately led to his support of repealing the ban.
“We take the information we have from reputable organizations, listen to the residents, and do the best that we can,” Graves said. He added that his “thoughts and prayers are with the family.”
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