Sunday, February 26, 2017

Current risk assessment: Serious attacks and fatalities, 5/2012 through end of 2016

After publishing the final figures for 2016, we decided to look at all breeds which have accounted for 5 or more fatalities total since 1982, and looking at their stats just over the past 5 years. (since May 2012)

The reasons for this are simple. The current data represents a collection of attacks going back to 1982, and we are interested in more current trends; the past 5 years or so provide a quick look. When we concentrate on the more recent data, we can spot trends which might be hidden in the larger collection.

Here is the quick summary:


Here is a pie chart:



Clearly, there are dangerous dogs and then there are dangerous dogs. The relative risk varies widely, even among the power breeds.

It should come as no surprise that pit bulls pose a bigger problem than ever before, with over 13 times as many fatalities as their closest competitor. It's really no contest.


On the other hand, Wolf Hybrids, which had accounted for 19 deaths over previous years, appear to be much less of an issue now. We're guessing that the fad is less popular these days.

Labs appear to be something of an outlier here; though good sized, capable dogs, they are known as especially good natured. "easy" dogs; being the most popular breed in North America is likely the most significant factor driving their appearance on this list at all.

At any rate, the full reports from which the differentials were derived can be found here (2012) and here (2016)


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