Oak Brook Woman Requests a Village-Wide Pit Bull and Rottweiler Ban

An Oak Brook resident made an unusual request at Tuesday’s Village Board meeting: she would like to ban pit bulls and Rottweilers from the village.

Maria Flynn presented the Village Board with four pages of information and presented facts and statistics from the website www.dogsbite.org about pit bull and Rottweiler attacks, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Flynn, who refused to answer questions after her remarks to the board, read statistics from the website about the percentage of attacks by pit bulls and rottweilers: that induce bodily harm, 86 percent; attacks to children, 81 percent; attacks to adults, 89 percent; attacks that result in fatalities, 76 percent; and attacks that result in maiming, 86 percent.

However those same percentages on dogsbite.org are not limited to rottweilers and pit bulls. They also apply all Molosser breeds, such as boxers, mastiffs and shar-peis. The statistics were compiled from United States and Canadian press accounts between 1982 and 2014, according to the website.

James Kruger, Oak Brook’s police chief, said at the meeting there hadn’t been any attacks by either breed reported in the area.

Board member John Baar told the Tribune after the meeting that he could see Flynn’s point and that recently, standing near a school, felt intimidated by someone who had a pit bull with them.

“It should be discussed, and we should consider doing something if there is a need," Baar said. "I would like to know if there are dogs like that in the village."

Mark Moy, another board member, seemed more cautious about the possible discussion.

"It definitely couldn't hurt to talk about this, but I am against governments making policies without good reason," he said.

Currently, Oak Brook does not require its residents to have licenses for their pets, including dogs.

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