As residents and dogs again fill Chicago parks, data shows fewer than 1 in 4 reported bites result in citations

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

Ed Wolf doesn't quite recall the moments between being knocked off his bike and losing a chunk of his face in November 2023.
But he remembers the phone call he made to his wife: 'I said, 'You have to come get me. I've been attacked by a pit bull,'' Wolf said. 'And she goes, 'Are you kidding?''
A day and 50 stitches later Wolf, 68, went to the police station to report the bite and found himself navigating a morass of different systems as he tried to draw official attention to the dog's owner.
An officer at the Morgan Park District (22nd) police station helped Wolf get started on a bite report, which kickstarts an investigation at Chicago Animal Care and Control.
The city department received some 6,435 bite reports between January 2020 and April 30 of this year, according to a Tribune review of data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
For that same period, data shows that CACC has issued about 1,516 citations, for 'unrestrained violations,' to animal owners. The violations cover dogs found to be off-leash in public areas, but not every violation issued pertains to a bite.
All of the investigations save a single one were marked closed, leaving residents and city officials alike to complain that the path to hold owners to account after dog attacks is opaque at best and useless at worst.
Wolf's was one of them. An animal control investigator spoke with Wolf about the attack, but stated in the report that Wolf didn't know the owner or how to reach him. Someone was trying to locate better information on the dog's owner, according to the investigation report.
The Beverly resident said he tried to follow up with Animal Control but never heard back. A copy of the investigation associated with Wolf's bite report showed the inquiry was marked completed, with no listed resolution.
'I would have liked for there to be some consequences to this,' he said.
In the 19th Ward, where Wolf lives, canine attacks have been a problem since a woman jogging in the Dan Ryan Woods was mauled to death by a trio of vicious dogs in 2003. More recently, city data shows that bites are up in that ward and citywide since 2020.The agency received 1,267 bite reports in 2023 and just over 1,300 reports in 2024, according to Chicago Animal Care and Control data. But the number of unrestrained citations it issued dropped by more than half over the same period — from 390 to 177.
A CACC representative said in a statement that the department was reviewing Wolf's case and one other closed case listed in a request for comment. The department acknowledged it can be frustrating for the public to deal with multiple agencies in the reporting process, but said it largely relies on the Chicago Police Department for accurate information to push cases forward.
CPD representatives didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.Animal Care has been without a permanent leader for more than two years, since then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed Susan Capello as acting director in January 2023.
CACC has cut back on its hours for members of the public to bring in animals and is sounding the alarm on a flood of pet surrenders that is testing the capacity of its space and its staff. On Thursday, it reported on social media that 75 animals entered its shelter over a single day.
As for why more than three-quarters of the animal bites reported to the agency are closed without a clear resolution, Animal Care and Control Operations Manager Angela Rayburn said investigators contend with missing or inaccurate information in bite reports.
'We have no other way to find the person other than what we're seeing in the official police (report),' she said.
Even with the correct information, Rayburn acknowledged, investigators will mark probes closed if they are unable to reach a bite victim or a dog owner. They can reopen investigations if someone calls them back, she added, but said callbacks after the first 24 hours are rare.
'We would probably have over 100 open bite (reports) if we're waiting on people to call us back,' she said. 'We don't want to wait months just to leave it open for someone that's probably never going to call.'
A department spokesperson said CACC officials and CPD were working to update a 2019 police order governing how officers handle animal-related incidents. That order directs officers to determine whether biting animals belong to anyone, and fill out bite reports for city and county animal control officials, among other obligations. If an officer can identify an owner, the order requires him or her to cite the owner for any alleged violations of city code.
CACC investigators will also work with animal owners to 'address concerns rather than defaulting to citations' when appropriate, according to the statement. 'That said, our ability to issue citations or take enforcement action depends on verifiable information, including victim/witness cooperation and confirmed ownership.'
People who have tried to make reports complain of a confusing and frustrating process involving multiple agencies. That can include CPD, Animal Control and potentially Cook County Animal Care and Control, which handles rabies investigations.
Ald. Matt O'Shea, 19th, has resorted to getting personally involved on behalf of his constituents who need help getting bites reported and investigated.
'There seems to be a lot of confusion,' O'Shea said. 'But when I'm on the scene or I'm on the phone, or I'm getting an email from someone who was just viciously attacked, and there's a whole lot of 'Oh, that's not us' on the other end, that's a problem.'
One of those constituents was Kevin Conroy. Conroy, 37, wasn't even sure where he was supposed to report the attack that left his dog Liam with a half-dozen puncture wounds and a $1,300 vet bill while the pair was out for a run on the Major Taylor Trail last fall.
Conroy first called 311, he said, and was then told he needed to go to the police station. He ended up calling the Cook County Forest Preserve to report the bite, which cares for the property on which he and his dog were attacked, and filed a bite report through the Police Department.
'That was the last I heard of that,' he said.
A Cook County Forest Preserve spokesperson, reached for comment, said Forest Preserve police documented the attack but didn't get any more information after the initial phone call with Conroy. According to the investigative file associated with Conroy's bite report, an Animal Control investigator conducted a phone interview but wrote that no owner information was available.
The file does not list an outcome.