Fatal dog attacks in the United States
The most comprehensive source for current statistics on fatal dog attacks in the USA
10 fatalities from dog attacks have been documented thus far in the United States for 2010
(updated 4/19/10)
- California: A family-owned pit bull type dog attacked and killed a three-year-old boy on January 9 in Apple Valley, San Bernardino County. A news report indicates that the father left his son momentarily in the backyard to get a toy from inside the house, and upon his return he discovered that his son had already been attacked, and was not breathing. Authorities arrived at the scene, and shot and killed the dog. The incident was one of five fatal dog attacks in Southern California’s Inland Empire since 2006.
- Illinois: A 56-year-old South side Chicago man was mauled to death by at least two pit bull type dogs in his home on January 17. In total, there were six pit bull type dogs found in the home, four adults and two puppies, owned by his daughter who may have been breeding the dogs, although this is not clear. The daughter also lived at the home but was not home at the time of the attack. The mauling was savage, with both ears bitten off, one of the man’s eyes completely gouged, and numerous bites throughout the man’s torso and extremities, suggesting more than one dog’s involvement. According to neighbors, these dogs did not have a history of aggression towards people, were friendly towards neighbors, and the daughter maintain good control over of the dogs. Authorities concluded that the death was “accidental”.
- Mississipi: The fatality involved a six-year-old girl who was playing in the snow outside her home and was attacked by a neighbor's pit bull dog. Apparently, only one dog was involved in the incident, but reports indicate that this dog lived with other pitbull dogs nearby. The probable cause of death to the victim were severe bite marks to the neck. In Terry, MS on February 12.
- Minnesota: The victim in this incident was an 11-day-old boy in a car seat situated on the owner's bed. The dog involved was the family's unusually large , male 70 lb. Siberian husky. Injuries were inflicted to the victim's head. A story about this incident in which Dr. Polsky was interviewed can be accessed here. On February 18, in Independence, MN.
- Pennsylvania: The victim was a 38-year-old female who was arguing with her mother in the early morning hours of February 19 in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia, when one of the family's pit bulls, an adult female, fatally attacked the victim as she fell backward during an argument. The mother was fighting with her daughter in an attemp to take the keys to the house away from her. According to news reports, when she fell backwards a lamp came crashing to the floor, which likely further exacerbated whatever aggressive tendencies this particular pit bull dog had momentarily as the incident unfolded. The mother said that the dog was in some sort of "protection-mode". The dog locked its jaws around the victim's neck and would not release. Reports indicate that neighbors, along with the mother, who also had five other pit bulls in the house, claim that all dogs were well-behaved and there were no problems between the dogs and the daughter. The daughter was familiar wih the dog involved in the incident. The daughter lived at the residence when she was not in jail or in drug-rehab. When the police arrived they shot two of the dogs, and the other four were taken to the SPCA.
- Flordia: In Ocala, FL. on February 20. The breed of dog involved in the incident was the American bulldog, despite other reports initially stating the breed was pit bull. The victim in this case was a three-year-old girl who was playing in the yard, and then entered the caged area containing four tethered, American bulldogs. The toddler became entangled on one of the dog's tether, and was attacked and killed by a single, reproductively intact, male dog. The mother was cleaning the cages, and may have left the cage door unlatched, but this is unclear. She had gone into the house to use the restroom, and upon return discovered her child was inside the cage and mauled by the dog. The mother was operating a dog breeding business out of her home.
- Georgia: On February 18 in Conyers, GA. The victim was a five-day-old infant fatally wounded by a pit bull type dog. The mother walked into her daughter's room, in response to the infant's crying, and discovered the dog on top of the infant in the bassinet.
- Oregon. The victim was a four-year-old girl killed by the family 2 year-old Rottweiler. Details are sketchy for this case other than the fact that the mother discovered her badly injured child on the front lawn of the house, and shortly thereafter the child was taken to a Portland hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The victim was the daughter of television's reality show "Ax Men",co-star Jesse Browning. According to an investigator, "apparently, the dog just snapped". In Astoria, Oregon on or about February 28.
- Oklahoma. On March 8 on the Iowa Indian Reservation near Perkins, Oklahoma. Victim was an eight-month-old boy by two Rottweiler dogs brought into the home the night before for protection purposes. Initially news reports indicated that just one dog was involved, but this was changed to two dogs in subsequent reports. Both dogs were destroyed by animal control. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, according to the medical examiner. Information on this case is sketchy. Note that other dog bite fatalities have occurred on Indian reservations in North America in 2010.
- Flordia. The incident involved a three year old, male pit bull mix dog, who severely mauled a seven-day old infant. The incident happened on the bed where the infant routinely slept with his 16-year-old mother. According to news reports, this particular pit bull dog, slept in the same bedroom with the infant and his mother. The mother was home at the time of the incident, but slept through the attack and discovered injured the baby later, but the infant could not be revived. According to others who knew the dog, this pitbull mix dog displayed no previous signs of aggressive behavior towards people. In New Port Richey, Florida on or about April 13, 2010.
Disclamers
(1) The accuracy of the information posted on this site depends on the validity and accuracy of the newspaper reports from which information posted on this site has been collected. Individuals seeking verification of the facts surrounding any particular incident can easily do online research of news stories for verification purposes. For this reason, no separate listing of the reference sources from which this information was collected will be made. In the least, it is assumed that reports are valid concerning the fact that a dog-related fatality happened. News reports may be inaccurate and may misrepresent other important imformtion, such as the breed of dog(s) involved in the incident, however. Since there may be error in the identification of the breed of dog(s) involved in a fatal attack as reported in newspaper stories, it would be a mistake to use information posted on this site to support agendas promoting legislation banning, limiting or curtailing the ownership of certain breeds of dog, such as a so-called "pit bull" dog (read "Problems with pit bull terrier identification"). Note that a pit bull is not a breed of dog, but instead the term has come to be widely used to describe a dog that has an appearance similar to a American Pit Bull terrier of American Staffordshire terrier. In some cases a dog described as a pit bull may in fact be an American Staff (AKC recognized) or an American Pit Bull (UKC recognized), but in other cases it may not. Since other breeds of dog physically resemble these breeds, mistaken identity is frequently made and consequently numbers are inflated for the number of attacks involving so-called "pit bulls". Further, correct breed identification becomes more problematic when the dog involved in an attack is a mixed-breed. Hence, ambiguity exists when using the term "pit bull". Dr. Polsky discourages and specifically requests that statistics on this site not be used to suppprt breed specific legislation. Note that other data collection techniques (animal control reports, police reports, witness observation) used for breed identification purposes in fatal dogs attacks may also be flawed for these reasons. For obvious reasons, those interested in this area need to proceed with caution before drawing any definitive conclusions about the breeds involved in fatal dog attacks.
(2) The reader should note the incidences of fatalities listed on this site may not represent every case in the United States where death was caused by a dog attack. In the very least this site represents a near exhuastive listing, however. The reader who is familiar with this area should note that this site currently lists fatal attacks that are not listed elsewhere by other authors who are independently collecting and documenting similar kinds of information on fatal dog attacks in the United States. As noted above, the primary source for information about fatal attacks comes from news reports published on the Internet and made available through Google News by using selected keywords. The accuracy of the information listed on the site depends entirely on the accuracy of the news reporting, and as noted above this may become problematic when dealing with the breed of dog in question.
(3) Finally, only those fatalitities that happened as a direct result of injuries sustained from a dog attack are listed. For example, not included in these statistics are dog fatalities where the primary cause of death is secondary to bite injuries caused by an attack (e.g. caradic arrest, freezing to death after falling unconscious following an attack, rabies, septicaemia, infection, falling on head as a result of being attacked). For example, there was an incident in March 2010 incident in Lucknow, South Carolina involving a 65-year-old lady in which all news stories initially reported a fatality caused by a pit bull attack, but subsequently the autopsy indicated a fatal heart attack was the primary cause of death (presumably from the stress of the attack). Hence, this incident cannot be included in the database. Also, a human fatality can be caused by the behavior of a dog that does not involve an aggressive attack (e.g. smothering), and likewise such instances are excluded from the database. Click here for medical explanation of the causes of death directly from of a dog attack.
Prior Year Statistics
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Summary Statistics (2004 - 2009)
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