Bite Data Collection Project
Presented by the Coalition of Living Safely with Dogs and Colorado Association of Animal Control Officers.
In early 2006 many cities in the Denver Metro Area were considering passing Breed Specific Legislation aimed at banning Pit Bulls as a result of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling overturning the legislation passed earlier in 2004 prohibiting any city from passing breed specific legislation. The City of Denver began enforcing their Pit Bull ban in May of 2005 and the Town of Castle Rock began enforcing their ordinance outlawing Pit Bulls as well. In February of 2006 the City of Aurora passed and began enforcement of breed specific legislation that grandfathered owners with restrictions and outlawed new owners from owning 13 specific breeds of dogs in the City of Aurora.
As other cities councils met to discuss breed specific legislation the Coalition for Living Safely with Dogs (CLSD) found that what was missing in providing resources and information to these political bodies was current and accurate data regarding dog bites. The most recent data on a national scale was bite statistics gathered by the Federal Center for Disease Control in 2001. The CLSD consistently found the need for data was key to making intelligent arguments against breed specific legislation and providing accurate information to political decision makers.
A subcommittee was formed to research how to come up with an instrument to accurately report bite statistics within the state of Colorado. Jan McHugh-Smith, then the Executive Director of the Humane Society of Boulder Valley and Nick Fisher, the Executive Director of Table Mountain Animal Center in Golden worked on a bite data collection survey. The survey was refined through the CLSD and the idea for a pilot project was presented to the Colorado Association of Animal Control Officers (CAACO) at their Fall Conference in Glenwood Springs in October of 2006.
The survey was finalized in late December of 2006 and a pilot bite data collection project went live in January of 2007. Bite Data was collected from seven (7) agencies which included the cities of Arvada, Boulder, Denver, Lakewood, Parker, and Garfield and Jefferson Counties. The survey was done through online software called Survey Monkey which produces a report on the data collected.
The pilot project was very successful and now the plan is to go live with a bite data collection survey by July 1, 2007 to collect bite data on a statewide basis. All current CAACO members will be requested to participate and report bite statistics via the survey. A link to the report area for the data is planned to be available on quarterly basis and will be password protected. A memorandum of understanding is being developed to make sure interpretation of the data is controlled before release to the public or the media. The pilot bite data report is available upon request.
For more information about the project please contact Nick Fisher at nfisher@tablemountainanimals.org or contact info@caaco.org.
Bite Data Collection Project »
