St. Petersburg Accident Blog

Florida Dog Bite Facts & Statistics

Every 75 seconds, someone is bitten by a dog in the United States.  Over 1,000 Americans require emergency treatment for these dog bites. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study into the frequency of dog bite injuries and found that approximately 4.7 million dog bites occur every year.  One report by the Animal People News stated that the following percentages of attacks involved pit bulls, rottweilers and wolf hybrids:

• 77 percent of dog attacks caused bodily harm
• 73 percent of dog attacks involved children
• 83 percent of dog attacks involved adults
• 70 percent of dog attacks resulted in death
• 77 percent of dog attacks caused maiming

Researchers have also looked into the types of breeds that most commonly cause fatalities.  According to research, during a 20-year period from 1979 to 1998, at least 25 dog breeds were involved in 238 human dog bite related deaths.  Rottweilers and pit bulls were associated with more than half of these deaths from 1997 to 1998.

Dogs bite for many reasons.  Based on a study in Denver, male dogs are more likely to bite than females and dogs that attack are 2.6 times as likely to not be neutered.  Also, dogs that bite are 2.8 times as likely to be chained as unchained.

Source: Dogbites.org