Tulsa Neighborhoods Complain Nothing Being Done About Aggressive Dogs

Two different neighbors in two different parts of Tulsa seem to have the same complaint – aggressive dogs are roaming the streets and nothing is being done.

People in the neighborhoods said it's scary not knowing when they could encounter them, and their concerns are heightened after dogs recently killed an elderly woman in an Oklahoma City neighborhood.

Joan Wynn lives in a neighborhood near Country Club Gardens in north Tulsa.

“I can’t even sit on my porch,” Wynn said. “We could be here, and out of nowhere, they attack us…Our neighborhood fights every day with these dogs."

Mail carrier Scott Moore works in the Turner Park neighborhood near TU and has seen similar issues.

"It came at me one time, you know. I backed it off and just walked back slowly and just continued on my route, and I would skip the house and stuff," he said.

To talk about the problem in both areas, people are taking to social media and apps like Nextdoor, even calling animal control.

"We've called police, the dog pound, and it's just, nothing can be done," Wynn said.

Jean Letcher with Tulsa Animal Welfare said handling these types of situations isn't as easy as some think.

"We can't just go into someone's yard and take their animal," Letcher said.

She said if you call animal welfare and the officer can't find the dog outside of their yard there is an alternative.

"The neighbor who has seen the animal out signs the citation as a witness, agrees to appear in court saying, under oath, that they saw the animal out, but the owner has to be home and answer the door for us to give the citation," Letcher said.

She said the sad reality is that many times it takes an attack to get something done.

"Often times, a bite has to happen before we can take that information to a judge," she said.

That is exactly what neighbors in both areas are afraid of.

Tulsa Animal Welfare said that if you are experiencing these kinds of problems, make sure the instances are well documented with animal welfare.