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30-Year Summary: Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada

September 1982 to December 26, 2011

DogsBite.org - Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, has released a 30-year summary of his report, Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 26, 2011, highlighting trends involving pit bulls. The data shows that fatal and serious maulings by pit bulls have greatly escalated in the past 10 years. Furthermore, 39% of the total number of pit bull attacks and 42% of the fatalities have occurred since the 2007 Michael Vick case alone.

See: Full news release.

DogsBite.org has reproduced the 30-year summary by Clifton in full below.

Summary

2011 brought the most total pit bull attacks, second most pit bull attacks on children, most pit bull attacks on adults, third most pit bull fatalities, and most pit bull disfigurements in the 30 years that I have kept track of the data.

This is the data from the past 20 years, with the 1992 data representing the first 10 years of data collection:

Summary of Pit Bull Incidents
YEAR ATTACKS CHILDREN ADULTS KILLED MAIMED
.. Total Year Total Year Total Year Total Year Total Year
1992 103 .. 43 .. 60 .. 18 .. 35 ..
2002 729 86 345 45 247 22 62 6 392 54
2003 857 128 395 50 303 56 75 13 463 71
2004 936 79 433 38 329 26 83 8 501 38
2005 1080 144 494 61 369 40 97 14 582 81
2006 1194 114 523 29 416 47 111 14 645 63
2007 1268 74 553 30 438 22 123 12 682 37
2008 1392 124 593 40 473 35 137 14 734 52
2009 1553 161 665 72 524 51 161 24 825 91
2010 1797 244 774 109 604 80 190 29 966 141
2011 2092 295 876 102 715 111 213 23 1164 198

Discussion

I don't like to make much of the year-to-year fluctuations, since the differences between any given year and the years before and after are well within the possibilities of chance.

The cumulative trends, though, are another matter.

Note, first of all, that the first 10 years of data collection included fewer pit bull attacks than in seven of the past 10 years, and barely a third as many as in 2011 alone. All of the numbers from the first 10 years of data collection look like a single year's worth of data from recent years.

  • 65% of the pit bull attacks resulting in someone being killed or maimed during the past 30 years have occurred during the past 10 years.
  • 39% of the pit bull attacks resulting in someone being killed or maimed during the past 30 years have occurred during the past four years alone. This corresponds with the time frame within which the Best Friends Animal Society and the American Humane Association ramped up their pit bull advocacy, in the wake of the Michael Vick case.
  • 14% of the total attacks occurred in the last year alone, and 26% in the past two years.
  • 61% of the pit bull attacks on children have occurred in the past 10 years; 37% in the past four years; 24% in the past two years.
  • 65% of the pit bull attacks on adults have occurred in the past 10 years; 39% in the past four years; 27% in the past two years.
  • 71% of the pit bull fatalities have occurred in the past 10 years; 42% in the past four years; 24% in the past two years.
  • 66% of the pit bull disfigurements have occurred in the past 10 years; 41% in the past four years; 29% in the past two years.

These cumulative trends are not within the possibilities of chance. They show a situation which has slipped out of any semblance of control, even compared to the situation of 10 years ago.

- Merritt Clifton, editor Animal People

Download 30-Year Report | Download 30-Year Summary

Related statistics:

Related articles:
07/26/11: ANIMAL PEOPLE Editor Responds to Fact Cooker Article by Mark Robison

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7 thoughts on “30-Year Summary: Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada”

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  1. Time to liquidate HSUS, Best Friends, AVMA and ASPCA through victim's class action.

    They are sitting on $Hundreds of Millions and employ quacks to influence Animal Control Policy in a manner that would embarass the Tobacco Lobby.

  2. With trends like this staring them in the face, I would think class action suits against these guys and against any city, town or municipality that refuses to protect their citizens by regulating pits and prosecuting owners of mauling pits is becoming feasible.

  4. I was HORRIFIED the other night while watching a show called Philly Undercover which features the Philadelphia SPCA.
    They broke up a large dog fighting ring and confiscated 41 Pit Bulls, many with well kept fighting records and the others with well chronicled pedigrees of fighting dogs.

    While showing one of the most succesful of the fighting dogs during its "rehabilitation" the person who was working with the dog stated they would take as long as it took so the dog could be "adopted". Meanwhile they stated 22 of the dogs had been put into homes.

    Where in the world does anyone think it is ok to put this kind of dog out in society with the average pet owner?

    Why is this kind of money and resources used for this fiasco.

    The numbers from this 30 year study shows a scary trend of increases.

    How many more people and innocent pets will have to pay with their lives before something is done.

    Thank goodness for this site and the great work it does.

  5. Liquidate HSUS? I don't think so. They do so much good for the factory farmed animals no one else is helping on a big scale; pit bulls remain small part of their work–thank goodness they haven't been co-opted into becoming an all-pits, all-the-time lobbying machine like Best Friends.

  6. They actually took the lead in the mid 80's with Dr Randall Lockwood on their payroll. They recently acquiesed that fight bust dogs be adopted out so donations would flow from the pit groups.

    They need to start taking care of some of these mauling victims!

  7. I have hope for them, though, because they have shown a willingness to shift gears and admit when they goofed. They did it with feral cats, and with advocacy for factory farmed animals. What I'm hoping is that as more solid info like this comes out, HSUS will reconsider their stance on fighting dogs.

    Groups like Best Friends and American Humane, however, I have little to no hope for.

Comments are closed.