Omaha will likely have a plan in place for the mayor by the end of the month concerning new rules regulating pit bulls or other breeds.

That's when the Nebraska Humane Society believes the work of a committee may wrap up and then that plan would go before the public and City Council.

Omaha has 1,500 licensed pit bulls, but experts believe there are another 4,500 that aren't licensed. Would a ban like the one Council Bluffs has on the breed make any difference to those who aren't following the rules anyway?

We're just five weeks removed from the terrifying wagon ride that 16-month-old Charlotte Blevins took through her neighborhood at 13th and Pine. A pit bull broke free from its cloth leash and attacked. The toddler lost part of her scalp.

“There are too many irresponsible owners,” said Charlotte’s mother, Wendy Blevins. The pit bull bit her, too.

"All the laws and ordinances in place say the dog needed a leash. It had one. It needed its shots. It had them. This woman followed all the laws in place and this dog still took down four people and nearly killed two children," she said.

"Nothing is off the table,” said Mark Langan with the Nebraska Humane Society, which made it clear Monday that all possibilities still exist.

The committee, made up of the Humane Society and city officials, is considering everything from pit bull bans to new rules for specific dogs and their owners to new rules for all dogs or some combination.

The bottom line is public safety.

"To identify dogs before they bite, to give them the label of potentially dangerous dogs,” Langan said.

And how do you do that? "By using certain criteria we're not ready to talk about yet, but things for owners to abide by before it escalates to a bite situation," Langan said.

Council Bluffs started a pit bull ban three years ago, meaning no new pit bulls were allowed and existing ones had to register, get a microchip, get spayed or neutered and the owner needed insurance.

There hasn't been a pit bull bite reported in Council Bluffs since the ban went into effect.

Could what Council Bluffs did work in a larger city like Omaha?

"I believe yes, but it would be based on the verbiage of the ordinance,” said Council Bluffs animal control officer Galen Barrett.

Langan, while complementary of Council Bluffs’ success, isn't sure Omaha could copy that with the same success. Council Bluffs has 160 registered pit bulls, Omaha has 1,500.