Fairbury Ordinance Officer Releases Dog Citation Numbers

By Gordon HopkinsThe City of Fairbury has provided access to dog-related ordinance violation citations.The Reason For The Records RequestIn September, a dog attack in Fairbury that left three people injured, including a seven-year-old child, leading to an uproar on social media over dogs running loose in the city. This comes after another dog attack in 2024, which led to a $25,000 tort claim being filed against the City of Fairbury earlier this year. That tort claim is still pending. Lufkin provided an update via email, “The Friday after the incident, with full compliance from the owners, the dogs were euthanized and were sent to UNL for Rabies testing. Both samples came back negative that afternoon. All injured parties were informed of the results, as well as JCH&L (Jefferson Community Health and Life).”The dogs were bull terriers. The city has no ordinance against owning bull terriers in the city limits. What the Citations ShowFJN requested to know the number of citations issued over the last three years. Those citations are primarily for dogs running at large, licenses violations and multiple dog households. Some citations contain multiple counts.The records show five citations were issued in 2023, six in 2024 and five in 2025. Two of the citations issued in 2025 were for the dogs involved in the recent attack.According to Lufkin, the owners of the dogs involved in the September attack have never been cited for any issues with their dogs previously. Sheriff Georgi also said there are no prior complaints about these dogs. Social MediaComplaints about dogs running loose or not under proper control in Fairbury have long been a topic for Fairbury citizens on Facebook and this recent incident has raised a lot of anger online. It is worth pointing out that, while there have been many posts accusing the city of not doing enough to curb dogs running loose, there has not been a single instance in 2025 of the matter being brought up by members of the public at a city council meeting. City Council rules allow for public comments at meetings.Fairbury Mayor Kelly Davis told FJN, “I have told the Code Enforcement to crack down on loose dogs. They have ordered some equipment to help them catch the dogs. But catching more dogs creates another problem, which is where to house them. We will look into a bigger pound, but that comes with more problems. Most of the area where the existing pound is in the flood plain.”

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