As a dog owner I suspect there are several sins of ommission as well as sins of commission in this Media Release by our friends the AVMA which is the political arm of the veterinarian profession.  Where did the bites occur is one question that is left out.  20% of all dog bites required medical care??  A lot of smoke and mirrors here??  All dog breeds did the damage??  Don't believe everything you are told would be my observation.  How many people are injured each year while working on their automobile at home??  How many people each year are killed while working on their automobile at home??  Did the automobile attack them??  Cattle kill 108 people per year in the USA and horses over 200 while these animals are far less exposed to children or adults on a daily basis.  As a person raised around cattle and horses I have always laughed when people asked if I was not afraid of dog bites ( I have never been bitten when it was not my fault ) .. compared to a 2000 bull or a cow with a newborn calf dogs are nothing in comparison.  The unintentional death of people and children in their own homes or businesses far, far exceeds dog bite injuries or deaths.  Electrocution in the home of children and adults is one such example.

 

 

Over the past 30 years, about 52 people on average die each year from lightning strikes. Going way back, in the 1940s, hundreds of people were killed each year by lightning; in 1943 alone, 432 people died.  When people worked outside more ( farming, etc) many more killed by lightning.  A farmer sitting on a hunk of steel weighing 5 tons does not need much encouragement to seek shelter when lightning is happening around him.  Conversely we have crowded dogs and people together in smaller and smaller spaces and urban areas.  A child is more likely to die from playing with a lamp cord or electrical outlet as being bit by a dog.  Many more children are killed in driveways by cars or accidents than from dog bites.

Human Deaths Caused By Animals

Animal Type	Per Year
Horses1	219
Dogs2	14
Reticulated pythons3	0.3
Burmese pythons3	0.1
Other pythons3	0.0
Boa constrictors3	0.0
Other boas4	0.0

Human Deaths by Accidents

Type of Accident	Per Year (avg. 1986-88)
Motor vehicles5	48,411
Firearms5	1464
Drowning during sports/recreation5	1030
Domestic wiring and appliances5	131

Your lifetime odds of dying from a dog attack in the USA below .. dogs are very safe .. safer than air travel by far.  Your odds of being killed by lightning, a bee sting, or an earthquake are greater than of that of being killed by a dog.  Your chances of being killed by a dog are slightly greater than being killed by an asteroid impact.  Perhaps the AVMA should have a week devoted to warning people about the danger of bee stings and how to avoid them .. likewise a week on the dangers of horses, cattle, and farm animals who kill far more people each year than dogs would be a good idea for the AVMA to spend their time on????

Maybe 100 million cows but any one can kill???

I grew up with cows, horses, mules, and swine.  A mother pig will kill you as will a cow or horse.  I have been bitten, stomped, kicked in the head, mashed, butted, drug, and knocked down by farm livestock .. after a while you get good at reading animals and you try to not give them an opportunity but it happens.  A horse or a cow can kill you quicker than a dog.  The AVMA is not doing dog owners justice with their "dog bite" campaign and "dog bite week".  Maybe "bee sting week" would be better and would save more lives.

 

Air Travel Accident*                                                              1-in-20,000
Tornado*    (included also in Natural Forces above)            1-in-60,000
Lightning Strike   (included also in Natural Forces above)   1-in-83,930
Snake, Bee or other Venomous Bite or Sting*                      1-in-100,000
Earthquake (included also in Natural Forces above)            1-in-131,890
Dog Attack                                                                             1-in-147,717
Asteroid Impact*                                                                    1-in-200,000**

If memory serves me correct, dogs killed over 40 people last year, mostly children and the elderly.  Those numbers do not reflect those that were mauled, maimed, dismembered, disemboweled, or disfigured. I think one child or person killed by dogs is one too many.  What is your number?  How many children must die in the jaws of a dog before you feel it is enough to warrant attention?

Keep kids safe get a dog and throw away their bicycle .. dogs are not a major safety problem.  Most bicycle injuries are not reported unless they require ER visits .. just as in the case of dog bites most are not seious enough to require medical attention.

Roughly 20,000 people die and 20 million are injured in home accidents .. Falls, fires, suffocation, drowning, and poisoning made the list .. dogs did not.

2009 National Bicycle Accident Statistics

• In 2009, 630 bicyclists were killed and 51,000 were injured.
• Pedalcyclist deaths made up 2 percent of all motor vehicle traffic deaths.
• While 630 bikers did lose their lives, the number is 12 percent lower than in 2008.
• Children ages 5 to 14 were most vulnerable to death and injury while riding a bicycle. Nearly one-third of the total number were in this age group.
• Over 200 5 to 14 year old killed on bicycles

And why should the AVMA be concerned with bicyclists being killed?  Maybe to you 40 plus lives don't matter, thankfully not everybody thinks the same.

The AVMA is using junk science and scare tactics .. pretty pathetic for a political organization of business people with supposed high standards and scientific backgounds.

359,000 children bitten ( In Big Bold Letters )

and below in small letter ( in three years )  .. the numbers are inflated to be scary

Perhaps a better Headline would be ..

Dogs .. the animals that live as human's active partners and servants

Dogs give the most to humans and expect nothing in return

Is there a dog or pet appreciation week that I missed??

Maybe as a countermeasure to  those 40 deathly incidents ,how many lives dogs saved in the same span of time. I'll bet its much more than forty.

Just a thought.