Animal welfare officers lack the legal authority to enforce a City of Tulsa ordinance requiring dogs to be on leash within parks.
That came to light at a park board meeting last week as members discussed recent complaints about off-leash dogs. Animal welfare officer Pete Theriot said they can’t enforce the leash requirement under Title 26 of the municipal code, which deals with parks specifically, but they do have authority to enforce a broader city leash requirement under a different section.
"We’ve came out whenever people don’t have them at verbal heel. If the dogs are running wild, we can come out and enforce that, because then they are in violation of Title 2," Theriot said.
"Verbal heel" means a dog is trained to follow commands from its owner and is under control without a leash.
Animal welfare officers are under the umbrella of the city’s Working In Neighborhoods Department, and Director Dwayne Midget said the city could grant animal welfare officers additional authority like it did for code enforcement officers so they could deal with short-term rental licensing issues.
"So, now we can enforce some requirements under Title 21. We can do the same thing here. That would help expedite our ability to enforce the leash law in the parks," Midget said.
The city adopted the leash requirement for parks last summer.
