Little Rock Dog Bite Lawyer

One-Bite Rule

Little Rock Animal Services runs bite investigations and the shelter at the Little Rock Animal Village, 4500 Kramer Street, reachable on (501) 376-3067. Any bite that breaks the skin has to be reported, and the animal is quarantined for ten days regardless of its vaccination status — a stricter rule than several neighbouring jurisdictions apply, and one that generates an official file naming the dog and its owner.

That file matters more in Arkansas than it would in a strict liability state. With no dog bite statute anywhere in Arkansas law, a claim turns on proving the owner knew or should have known the dog was dangerous, or that the owner was negligent. A prior Little Rock animal control record for the same address is close to the best evidence available on the first question, and municipal records are purged on local schedules well inside the three-year filing window.

Little Rock's dangerous dog provisions in Chapter 6 of the city code give the second route its shape. A dog can be declared dangerous where it bites a person engaged in lawful activity without provocation, seriously injures another animal off the owner's property, or menacingly chases someone on public property while off leash and out of control. A declared dog must then be confined indoors or in a locked enclosure built both to prevent escape and to keep the public, including children, out. Because Arkansas has no statewide leash law, the applicable city ordinance is what a negligence claim is measured against — and whether the bite happened inside Little Rock, in North Little Rock, or in unincorporated Pulaski County changes which rules apply.

Report a Little Rock bite that breaks the skin to Little Rock Animal Services; the animal is quarantined for ten days regardless of vaccination status, and the Little Rock Animal Village at 4500 Kramer Street can be reached on (501) 376-3067. Ask in writing for any prior animal control record at the dog's address. Arkansas has no dog bite statute, so a claim depends on showing the owner already knew the dog was dangerous — and that record is the strongest evidence of it, held on a municipal retention schedule shorter than the state's three-year filing deadline.

Read the full statute breakdown: Arkansas Dog Bite Laws → · Typical payouts: Arkansas Settlement Amounts →