2005 U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Statistics - DogsBite.org
Fatal Dog Attack StatisticsDogsBite.org recorded 28 fatal dog attacks in 2005
1. Citations of each victim's story are located on the
Fatality Citations page. The last year the CDC recorded or studied dog bite fatalities by breed was 1998. Likely due to pressures from animal advocacy groups, dog fancying groups and pro-pit bull groups, the CDC stopped recording these deaths by breed. The only other known entity that tracks this vital information is
Animal People News. DogsBite.org has joined in this effort.
2005 Dog Bite Fatalities- 282 U.S. fatal dog attacks occurred in 2005. Pit bull type dogs were responsible for 57%. Pit bulls make up approximately 5% of the U.S. dog population.
- The combination of pit bulls (16) and rottweilers (5) accounted for 75% of all fatal attacks.
- 46% of the attacks occurred to children (11 years and under) and 46% occurred to adults (21 years and older)3. Of the adults, 85% occurred to ages 55 and older.
- 57% of fatal attacks in 2005 involved multiple dogs; 7% involved chained dogs.
- 64% of the attacks occurred on owner property and 36% off owner property. Of the off-property attacks, 90% (9) involved pit bulls.
- 61% of the victims were female; 39% of the victims were male. Of the female victims, over half (9) were 11 years and under.
- The state of California had the most fatalities (4), followed by the states of Georgia, Michigan, Texas and Virginia each suffering 3 three.
1DogsBite.org launched in October 2007. By January 2010, DogsBite.org will have five years of fatal dog attack data available to the public and 250 megabytes of downloadable PDF documentation about these victims.
2Various websites report 29 fatal dog attacks in 2005. This is due to the December 30 death of Cody Adair and the initial media reports falling on January 3, 2006. Cody is included in the DogsBite.org 2006 dog bite fatalities.
3Two victims fell within the 12 to 20 age group, ages 12 and 14.
Related articles:04/22/09:
Report: U.S. Dog Bite Fatalities January 2006 to December 200812/11/08:
Who Authored the CDC Fatal Dog Attack Report (1979 to 1998)?
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