Beware of the Cows

In the past, I have been attacked by Pit Bull apologists for suggesting that Pit Bulls have a bred-specific problem -- Pit Bull "lovers" who acquire the dogs, breed the dogs, and then end up dumping them down at the shelter where they are invariably killed. 

The cost to Pit Bulls for this kind of action is almost one million dead dogs a year -- about twice as many Pit Bulls killed every year as are ALL dogs registered each year by the American Kennel Club.

Last week, however, I suggested that while it is TRUE that Pit Bull-type dogs are responsible for about two-thirds of all deaths caused by dog bites in the U.S., perhaps death alone should not be the metric (how about talking about scarred faces and other lacerations?), and that in any case 30 deaths a year was really not that many compared to other causes of death in the U.S.

Woooeeee.  What a can of worms that knocked over! 

It seems the Pit Bull haters are almost as breed-blind as the Pit Bull lovers.

Fair enough. 

I realize dogs can be an emotional issue, which is why I ask people to drain off the emotion and go get a few numbers to help center their respective arguments. 

For the folks that deny Pit Bulls are a problem when it comes to dog bites, I have challenged them to document two or three years of fatal dog attacks by breed-type. 

No takers on that challenge from the Pit Bull community, of course, because the community  knows the data, which is that Pit Bulls and butcher dogs (which includes Rottweilers, Boxers, Dogos and Dogues) are responsible for more than two-thirds of fatal dog attacks, and an equal percentage of serious dog attacks requiring hospitalization.

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, however, and so I turned the table on the Pit Bull demonizers and asked them to compare Pit Bull deaths and hospitalization to other causes of death and hospitalizations. 

Of course, instead of statistics, I got more typing back, which I tossed into the spam folder.

Seriously people:  If I ask you for data, I am NOT asking for more typing arguments, nor am I asking you to generate a list of excuses for why you cannot use the Google.  If I have asked you to produce data or citations, I am asking you to invest as much energy in RESEARCH as you do in arguing. 

So what about the data?  Now that it's clear that it will not be supplied by others, I might as well give the numbers.  It's not like they're hard to find!

In fact, Outside magazine on line just did an short article on The Deadliest Animals in the United States, based on data from the CDC. 

On average about 200 people a year die from direct animal attacks every year -- a number that does NOT include the approximately 110 people a year that are killed from accidents related to riding on a horse, mule or some other animal, or who were killed when vehicles pulled by such animals go out of control.

Of those people killed by direct animal attack, about 30 will be due to dog bites, and of those deaths, over 20 will be due to Pit Bulls and other butcher dog breeds (such as Rottweilers and Boxers).

So, to put this last number into perspective, about five times more people are killed by horses every year than by Pit Bulls.

Let's compare some more.  About 217 fatalities occur every year in the U.S. due to vehicle impact with animals. Most of these are due to impacts with deer, but moose, elk, bear, and other animals are also in the loop. 

Deer-related deaths account for about 150 deaths a year in the U.S. -- or about seven times more than for Pit Bulls.  And this is death -- we have not even dealt with the disabling and disfiguring injuries that come from the 1.2 million deer-auto impacts that occur every year, the cost of auto repair, or the number of deer that are killed.  

When dogs attack, who are they most likely to attack?  Not strangers.  The victim is usually the owner of the dog, or a member of the owner's family. 

If you are looking for stranger-danger violence from animals, the animal to fear are hornets, wasps and bees:  they kill about 80 people a year, or four times more people than Pit Bulls.

So what are the odds for all kinds of death, including dogs?

• 100% chance you will die of something (just sayin')
• 1 in 98 chance you will die in a motor vehicle incident
• 1 in 109 chance you will die from intentional self-harm
• 1 in 126 chance you will unintentionally poison yourself
• 1 in 321 you will die from assault by firearm
• 1 in 126 chance of unintentional poisoning
• 1 in 163 chance of death from a falls
• 1 in 321 chance of death from assault by firrearm
• 1 in 368 chance of death as occupant of a car in a wreck
• 1 in 701 chance of being struck as a pedestrian
• 1 in 761 death as a motorcycle rider
• 1 in 1,103 chance of death from accidental drowning
• 1 in 1,344 chance of death from exposure to smoke
• 1 in 4,381 chance of death from bicycling
• 1 in 7,178 chance of death from airplane wreck or accident
• 1 in 12,430 chance of death from electric current
• 1 in 13,217 chance of death from natural heat stroke
• 1 in 79,842 chance of death from hornets, wasps, or bees
• 1 in 97,807 chance of death from earthquake
• 1 in 111,779 chance of death from legal execution
• 1 in 134,906 chance of death from lightning strike
• 1 in 144,899 chance of death from being bitten and mauled by a dog

So, to summarize, you are more likely to be killed by lightning, or from legal execution, than you are to die from a dog bite, and the chance of being killed by a Pit Bull is even lower than that!

And for those of you who are keeping score, the most dangerous animals in America are ... cows and horses, with each animal accounting for 100 to 130 deaths per year..

• Related Links:
  ** Pit Bulls in the River
  ** Dog Attacks: Chewing on Stats, Policy and Risk
  ** Doing Right by Pit Bulls
  ** Pit Bulls as Cash Cows and Cause Celebre
  ** Is 400 Million Pounds of Dead Pit Bull Enough?  

.