Illinois lawmakers continue dog attack debate

SPRINGFIELD — As the spring legislative session winds down, Illinois lawmakers remain divided over how to address violent attacks by vicious dogs.

The push for legislation and further study of the issue comes in the wake of numerous attacks statewide. On Saturday, an 11-year-old girl was attacked by two pit bulls at the home of a relative in the southern Illinois town of Energy.


In 2005, 27 fatal dog attacks occurred nationwide, said Ledy VanKavage, an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokeswoman.

“In my mind rabies isn’t the number one threat in Illinois right now,” VanKavage said. “It’s stray dogs and attacks.”

But lawmakers have had difficulty agreeing on measures that would address the issue. One lawmaker says it’s because of the role dogs play in our society.

“Animals, in particular dogs, running at wild pose a real public health issue for humans, and that’s got to be our top priority,” said state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. “Because animals are living, breathing creatures and parts of our families, there’s a divide.“

Lawmakers appear close to agreements on two pieces of legislation, but some want to make penalties for dog attacks even stricter. They say the issue isn’t going away.

State Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, began pushing to put more responsibility on dog owners rather than the animals after the 2005 death of Lydia Chaplin, 14, who was attacked by four dogs near her home in the northwest Illinois town of Erie. She was found dead in a ditch, having succumbed to hypothermia. The incident was Illinois’ only fatality last year following a dog attack.

Boland’s proposal, House Bill 4238, originally had called for penalties if any dog attacked.

But his plan was reworked in the Senate and now would increase the penalties only in attack cases in which dogs had already been declared vicious or dangerous. In other words, a dog would have to attack someone twice before penalties would kick in.

Local governments are not able to enforce some of the state laws necessary to protect community members from dogs that are allowed to roam and possibly attack, said state Rep. Michael Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, who also floated proposed legislation after a brutal attack on children in Cary last November.

The current law needs to change because it places the emphasis in the wrong place, Tryon said.

“Right now if you want to determine a dog is dangerous, you have to petition a court and the dog gets a trial,” Tryon said. “We’re talking about animals here; we’re not talking about people. They’re personal property.”

Even if legislation is approved in the waning days of the spring session, lawmakers may keep the issue alive by creating a task force to study the matter over the summer.

“Having a task force is the best way to deal with it as opposed to having opposing pieces of legislation where nobody gets what they want,” said Colleen O’Keefe, who supervises animal protection for the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

One piece of legislation that does appear poised for passage this spring is House Bill 2946, which would prohibit felons from possessing dogs that haven’t been neutered. According to VanKavage, 89 percent of all dogs involved in fatal attacks were not fixed.

The legislation is aimed at protecting police and the public as dogs are used to guard drug houses, said state Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, the measure’s sponsor.

Chris Lusvardi can be reached at

chris.lusvardi@lee.net or (217) 789-0865.

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