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Dog Bite Fatalities January 2006 to December 2008 PDF Print E-mail
DogsBite.org, a national dog bite victims’ group dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks by creating common sense laws, releases its first multi-year report on U.S. dog bite fatalities. The report covers a 3-year period — from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2008 — and analyzes data gathered from 88 dog bite incidences that caused death to a U.S. citizen.

The report documents dog breed information, property information (where the attack occurred) as well as dog bite victim age information.

Of the 88 fatal dog attacks recorded by DogsBite.org, pit bull type dogs were responsible for 59% (52). This is equivalent to a pit bull killing a U.S. citizen every 21 days during this 3-year period. The data also shows that pit bulls commit the vast majority of off-property attacks that result in death. Only 18% (16) of the attacks occurred off owner property, yet pit bulls were responsible for 81% (13).

Pit bulls are also more likely to kill an adult than a child. In the 3-year period, pit bulls killed more adults (ages 21 and over), 54%, than they did children (ages 11 and younger), 46%. In the 21-54 age group, pit bulls were responsible for 82% (14) of the deaths. The data indicates that pit bulls do not only kill children and senior citizens; they kill men and women in their prime years as well.

The report also shows that of the six victim age groups documented, the 55 and older group suffered the most fatalities 26% (23), followed by the 2-4 age group 22% (19). Between the ages of 0-4, the study reveals that 14% (12) of the fatal attacks involved a “watcher,” a person such as a grandparent or babysitter watching the child. Of these attacks, 75% (9) involved a grandparent type.

The founder of DogsBite.org, Colleen Lynn, adds, “The off-property statistical data about pit bulls shows just how dangerous they are.” She noted that six senior citizens were killed under these circumstances: “Two were killed while standing in their own backyard,” she said. “Four others were killed while taking a morning walk or getting the mail.”

To read the full 4-page report, U.S. Dog Bite Fatalities January 2006 to December 2008, please visit the following URL:
http://www.dogsbite.org/reports/dogsbite-report-us-dog-bite-fatalities-2006-2008.pdf

I wrote dogbite.org in response to this attack

http://www.dogsbite.org/blog/2009/03/2009-fatality-boy-killed-by-pit-bulls.html

...cautioning them about the initial indentification of the dogs due to the weights being reported.

My comment never appeared.
I enquired why, assuring them I was on their side having been bit by a dog myself.

No response from dogbite.org.

A call to San Antonio revealed only one of the two dogs involved
was a ‘type of pitbull mix’ the other a ‘retreiver mix’.

There has been no clarification or retraction by dogbite.org
and according to them it is still two pitbulls involved.

If that is how they operate than any stats they produce are worthless.

Arthur,
you would be better off looking to the CDC and AVMA
for information on dog bites

http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Dog-Bites/biteprevention.html

http://www.avma.org/public_health/dogbite/dogbite.pdf

Accurate statistics are difficult to obtain.
To determine the instances of bites of one breed to another 2 things must be present,
the number of bites attributed to a breed and the total population of a breed.
Both are extremely difficult determine with a high degree of accuracy.

Here’s a bit of what the AVMA has to say....

An often-asked question is what breed or breeds of
dogs are most “dangerous”? This inquiry can be
prompted by a serious attack by a specific dog, or it
may be the result of media-driven portrayals of a specific
breed as “dangerous.” Although this is a common
concern, singling out 1 or 2 breeds for control can
result in a false sense of accomplishment.14 Doing so
ignores the true scope of the problem and will not
result in a responsible approach to protecting a community’s
citizens.
Dog bite statistics are not really statistics, and they
do not give an accurate picture of dogs that bite.7
Invariably the numbers will show that dogs from popular
large breeds are a problem. This should be expected,
because big dogs can physically do more damage if
they do bite, and any popular breed has more individuals
that could bite. Dogs from small breeds also bite
and are capable of causing severe injury. There are several
reasons why it is not possible to calculate a bite
rate for a breed or to compare rates between breeds.
First, the breed of the biting dog may not be accurately
recorded, and mixed-breed dogs are commonly
described as if they were purebreds. Second, the actual
number of bites that occur in a community is not
known, especially if they did not result in serious
injury. Third, the number of dogs of a particular breed
or combination of breeds in a community is not
known, because it is rare for all dogs in a community
to be licensed, and existing licensing data is then
incomplete.7 Breed data likely vary between communities,
states, or regions, and can even vary between
neighborhoods within a community.

they go on to point out.....

Concerns about “dangerous”
dogs have caused many local governments to consider
supplementing existing animal control laws with ordinances
directed toward control of specific breeds or
types of dogs. Members of the Task Force believe such
ordinances are inappropriate and ineffective.
Statistics on fatalities and injuries caused by dogs
cannot be responsibly used to document the “dangerousness”
of a particular breed, relative to other breeds,
for several reasons. First, a dog’s tendency to bite
depends on at least 5 interacting factors: heredity, early
experience, later socialization and training, health
(medical and behavioral), and victim behavior.
Second, there is no reliable way to identify the number
of dogs of a particular breed in the canine population
at any given time (eg, 10 attacks by Doberman
Pinschers relative to a total population of 10 dogs
implies a different risk than 10 attacks by Labrador
Retrievers relative to a population of 1,000 dogs).
Third, statistics may be skewed, because often they do
not consider multiple incidents caused by a single animal.
Fourth, breed is often identified by individuals
who are not familiar with breed characteristics and
who commonly identify dogs of mixed ancestry as if
they were purebreds. Fifth, the popularity of breeds
changes over time, making comparison of breed-specific
bite rates unreliable.

Breed-specific ordinances imply that there is an
objective method of determining the breed of a particular
dog, when in fact, there is not at this time. Owners
of mixed-breed dogs or dogs that have not been registered
with a national kennel club have no way of
knowing whether their dog is one of the types identified
and whether they are required to comply with a
breed-specific ordinance. In addition, law enforcement
personnel typically have no scientific means for determining
a dog’s breed that can withstand the rigors of
legal challenge, nor do they have a foolproof method
for deciding whether owners are in compliance or in
violation of laws. Such laws assume that all dogs of a
certain breed are likely to bite, instead of acknowledging
that most dogs are not a problem. These laws often
fail to take normal dog behavior into account and may
not assign appropriate responsibilities to owners.

Lots more to be read at the two links I gave.