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:

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

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.

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.

Is that table a log of all dog attacks or just pit bulls?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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vintage on January 16, 2012 at 12:06 pm said:

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.
snack sized dog on January 16, 2012 at 7:18 pm said:

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.
Rag Doll on January 16, 2012 at 7:58 pm said:

Is that table a log of all dog attacks or just pit bulls?
DJL on January 18, 2012 at 4:44 am said:

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.
Packhorse on January 18, 2012 at 5:07 pm said:

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.
vintage on January 19, 2012 at 12:24 am said:

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!
Packhorse on January 19, 2012 at 2:44 pm said:

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.