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YORKVILLE — The village lifted its pit bull ban Friday with a revision to its dangerous animal ordinance, ending Racine County’s only such municipal ban.

Under the village’s prior ordinance, which had been in effect since 1996, pit bulls were outright banned from the village. Yorkville was the only municipality in Racine County to have a pit bull ban, according to Jodie Hoffmann-Ruffalo, the village’s animal control officer and executive director of Woof Gang Rescue in Racine.

Included in the ban were pit bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers and American Staffordshire terriers as well as any pit-bull mixes.

“It’s great,” Hoffmann-Ruffalo said. “We love to see the pit bull ban lifted.”

Pit bulls have historically been a topic of debate, with some cities and countries around the globe outlawing them and other breeds deemed dangerous through controversial bans, often referred to as breed-specific legislation. In 2017, an anti-pit bull activist from East Troy proposed a pit bull ban in Union Grove, resulting in a Village Board meeting overflowing with pit bull supporters. The village did not enact one.