Fatality data collection method ::

In addition to collecting a voluminous number of news reports for a small number of dog bite fatality victims each year, we also collect photographs, police and coroner reports, court filings and more.

Download: DogsBite.org Statistical Data and Research Findings Are Trusted

How we define a fatal dog attack

We define a fatal dog mauling as: (1) a vicious attack, (2) resulting in severe or catastrophic injury, and (3) the victim dies. Severe injury includes: injuries requiring multiple surgical procedures, injuries resulting in broken bones, multiple deep bite injuries (Level 5 bite), mutilation, or amputation injuries. Most deaths occur immediately. Less often, death occurs within hours of the attack or while the victim is hospitalized, typically one to several days or several weeks after the violent dog attack.

On each dog bite fatality page, we list excluded victims and the types of cases that are excluded: "Deaths involving minor dog bite injury, dog-related injury (killed by a car while fleeing a dog) and cases that lacked a 'reasonably clear' determination of death after dog bite injury are not included in our fatality statistical data. Deaths involving fatal non-bite injury (struck by dog death) or deaths due to untreated severe dog bites (sepsis) may be added to our statistical data at a future time," we state.

Included deaths:

Excluded deaths:

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Capturing fatal dog attacks

How we capture fatal dog attacks for all breeds reported in U.S. news reports begins with 14 generic phrases assigned to Google News Alerts. All 14 phrases are intentionally non-breed specific. Once an attack is captured, 2-4 case-specific terms are created to ensure that any new information about the dog bite fatality is captured. A case-specific phrase is often "name of county, dog attack." It also may be the first and last name of the victim, or in cases of criminal charges, the dog owner's name.

The 14 generic phrases have been in use since 2008-2013, according to a recent search of incomplete archived emails of those years. - DogsBite.org, October 17, 2022

Occasionally we capture a new fatal dog mauling when, (1) a family member or friend of the victim directly reports the attack to us, (2) it is discovered on social media then verified, or (3) it is found through a FOIA, a public records request, made by our nonprofit. From 2005 to 2023, 31 deaths (of a total of 740) were discovered by these methods, 4% of all cases. Adults 40-years and older were the most common fatality victims, 74%. The most common dog breeds involved were bull breeds.

Generic fatal dog attack alerts

  1. child dies dog attack
  2. child killed by dog
  3. death dog bite
  4. dog bite fatality
  5. fatal dog attack
  6. fatally attacked by dog
  7. felony dog attack
  8. infant killed by dog
  9. infant mauled by dog
  10. killed by dog
  11. killed in dog attack
  12. mauled to death
  13. woman dies dog attack
  14. bitten to death

Unreported fatal dog maulings:

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News reports & photographs

Our data for U.S. dog bite fatality statistics is largely based on a massive number of news reports -- which often include photographs and video -- collected at the time of the attack. For instance, in 2019 we collected over 1,130 news articles for 50 victims. During this one year period, over 80% of fatal dog attack cases had one or more breed identification photograph. Of the 559 dog bite fatalities recorded by our nonprofit between 2013 and 2024, 62% (346), had some form of a breed identification image.

We collect a trove of data on social media websites about the breeds of dogs involved and their owners. This is especially true when a fatal mauling involves pit bulls to dispel breed misidentification rumors. We don't stop at the source dog either, we also try to capture lineage -- the parents and offspring of the involved dog -- as well as bloodlines. In 2023, we collected 21.8 gigabytes of data for 63 victims; parts of that data are public photographs and videos from social media websites.

We research the owners of the involved dog on Facebook and Instagram (parents, relatives, spouses, boyfriends, neighbors, or anyone suspected of owning the dog) to understand his or her relationship to the victim and if a temporary scenario was involved. For instance, was a relative, who owned the dog, living at the victim’s home at the time of the fatal dog mauling? In several cases, this type of online research has uncovered the owner of the dog admitting to previous vicious behavior of that canine.

Related articles:

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Police reports & legal documents

On an annual basis, our nonprofit submits 5 to 30 FOIAs, a public records request, to collect police and coroner reports. Sometimes this involves fatal dog attacks the media has not covered or when the information released by police was limited. Other times, we submit FOIAs to medical examiner offices when we suspect there are more dog bite fatalities in that jurisdiction. We also reach out to multiple police and sheriffs' departments to gain supplementary facts, including breed confirmation.

In addition to FOIAs, we document the legal and legislative materials that arise after a fatal dog mauling, such as civil lawsuits, criminal filings, and legislative actions. The results of a fatal dog attack may include years of court proceedings. The civil claim after a Tennessee man was killed by multiple pit bulls in 2010 took eight years to resolve in the courts. The conviction of a South Carolina dog owner after his pack of dogs killed a boy in 2006 was reinstated by the state supreme court in 2014.

Legal document summary:

  • We send out 5 to 30 FOIAs annually to collect police and coroner reports, as well as animal control records.
  • We write detailed and extended FOIAs for family members who have suffered the loss of a family member in a fatal dog mauling.
  • We receive fatality information directly from the family members of fatal dog attack victims, as well as through the dog bite victims' advocacy network.
  • We review and publish audio dispatch log recordings from Fire and EMS departments who respond to the scene of a fatal dog mauling.
  • Every year, we reach out to multiple police and sheriffs' departments to gain additional facts and confirmation about fatal dog attack cases.
  • We collect all public news releases by police departments in cases of fatal dog maulings. Access to these releases is growing more common as law enforcement departments increasingly release them on social media.
  • We collect all accessible civil lawsuit filings related to fatal dog maulings.
  • We collect all accessible criminal filings related to fatal dog attacks and closely follow all cases in the media that reach the trial level.
  • We collect all relevant state and federal appellate court rulings, both civil cases and criminal cases, that arise after a fatal dog mauling.
  • Finally, we attempt to collect legislative materials that arise from a fatal dog attack, such as a new state law or a city passing a restricted breed ordinance.

Related articles:

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The parameters we collect

Our nonprofit attempts to collect over 50 separate parameters for each fatal dog mauling victim. Our parameters essentially break down the lethal "attack scenario" into smaller pieces. Over the many years of our dog bite fatality documentation, our list of parameters has grown as we identify new trends in fatal dog attack scenarios. In 2012, for instance, we added a new item in response to the growing number of "rescue" or "rehomed" dogs that subsequently mauled an individual to death.

Adding new a parameter after identifying a trend is critical, but also time-consuming. We then must review all fatal attacks (hundreds of cases) before the trend arose to determine if any of the other cases involved these criteria. Also, it is safe to say that there should be national reporting requirements after a fatal dog mauling. Law enforcement departments should release consistent "baseline" information to news media outlets and the public after each fatal dog attack, including these items:

Baseline reporting requirements:

  1. Name, age and sex of victim
  2. Victim’s relationship to the dogs (family or non-family)
  3. Involved dog breed(s)
  4. Identification photograph of the involved dog(s)
  5. Sex and spay/neuter status of the involved dog(s)
  6. History of aggression of the involved dog(s)
  7. Ownership of the involved dog(s)
  8. Location of the attack (on or off the dog owner’s property)
  9. Cause of death

The parameters we collect:

The list below shows 42 primary parameters, many of which contain multiple factors.

  1. Date of death
  2. Year of death
  3. Date of attack
  4. Weekday of attack
  5. Month of attack
  6. Time of attack separated into four units of the 24-hour day
  7. Unreported attack (multiple factors)
  8. Residential/street address of attack
  9. City name
  10. County name
  11. State name
  12. Attack occurred on Indian reservation or Alaska Native tribal land
  13. Census region
  14. State preemption law (prohibiting breed-specific laws)
  15. Victim name
  16. Victim age (multiple factors)
  17. Victim sex
  18. Contributing cause of death (adult victims)
  19. Seizure evidence
  20. Breed(s) of dogs involved (multiple factors)
  21. Multiple dog breeds involved
  22. Breed photograph (multiple factors)
  23. Dog count (number of dogs involved)
  24. Dog sex
  25. Dog name
  26. Spay or neuter status of dog
  27. Breeding status of dog
  28. Chained status of dog
  29. Shelter, rescue or rehomed dog (multiple factors)
  30. Dog relationship to victim
  31. Dog owner relationship to victim
  32. Dog new to household (0-2 months)
  33. Victim visiting dog’s home
  34. Attack occurred on or off dog owner’s property
  35. Victim 0-2 years old (multiple factors)
  36. Victim 0-9 years old babysitting factors
  37. Multiple victim attack
  38. Victim previously bitten by same dog (multiple factors)
  39. Victim breaking up a dog fight
  40. Dog had history of human aggression
  41. Dog had history of animal aggression
  42. Criminal charges (multiple factors)

Related articles:

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Validating the number of deaths

To validate that we are not undercounting dog bite fatalities, every few years we conduct a combined year comparison to CDC WONDER database, which collects the underlying cause of death for all mortalities. The ICD-10 mortality code is W54 and combines "bitten or struck by dog" into the same category. Our last comprehensive comparison was conducted in May 2021. We compared our 15-year dog bite fatality data set from 2005 to 2019 to the same 15-year period in CDC Wonder database.

Our total was 522, versus CDC Wonder database total of 519. The ages of victims, however, were significantly different. Our data shows 73 additional child deaths (≤ 9 years) and CDC data shows 88 additional adult deaths (≥ 50 years). Certainly, the adult death age group, 50-69 years old, may involve a number of family dog attacks that never reach the media. The older age group, ≥ 70 years old, may include multiple "struck by dog deaths" that our nonprofit already excludes from our data.

During this 15-year period, our data captured 96 adult victims, ages 50-69 years old, killed by dogs (CDC=151). Pit bulls inflicted 72% (69) of these deaths, which is over 9 times more frequent than the next closest breed, German shepherds (7 deaths), and over 2.5 times greater than all other breeds combined (27 deaths). Thus, despite a lack of news reports for 55 adults (50-69 years) killed by dogs, the only known evidence indicates that pit bulls are the chief perpetrators of these attacks.

Review: Comparing 15 Year Data Sets - DogsBite.org and CDC Wonder Data (2005-2019)

Ongoing Covid, Post-Covid Impact

We continue to document the Covid impact on our capture rate as well. CDC Wonder data is often delayed by more than a year. In the fall of 2022, we documented in our 2020 Macro-Level Forces report that for the first time, there was a sudden disparity. Previous to 2020, during the 15-year period of 2005 to 2019, the largest deficit of unreported deaths was in 2005 and 2010, 5 and 4 deaths respectively.1 During the 2020 year of Covid conditions, there was a deficit of 15 unreported deaths.

Over the next two years as CDC Wonder deaths rose – 81 deaths in 2021 and 98 deaths in 2022 – our deficit of deaths rose too. In June 2025, we published our 2023 Macro-Level Forces report, which showed there was a decrease in CDC data, 96 deaths. That year, we reported a deficit of 33 unreported deaths. Our 2023 report discusses the characteristics of 39 fatalities unreported by the media since 2011, where we obtained FOIA data, of which 64% occurred after March 2020.

Our 2020-2024 year data set remains open as of October 2026, as we continue to send out FOIAs to reduce disparities during the Covid and post-Covid years. Our earlier data set, 2005-2019, closed in the spring of 2026. The macro-level forces reports published below were accurate at the time of publication. Our final death counts in the reports may differ between reports due to discovering new deaths in the 2020-2024 data set or by reclassifying earlier deaths in the 2005-2019 data set.

Covid Reports:

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How breeds & mixed-breeds are tracked

All dog breeds recognized by major United States kennel clubs (American Kennel Club and United Kennel Club) are tracked in separate categories for our dog bite fatality statistics. This means that all "baiting" bull breeds, fighting and guardian breeds are tracked separately, including, but not limited to: American bulldogs, bull terriers, cane corsos, dogo Argentinos, pit bulls and presa canarios. We do combine mastiffs (e.g., mastiff, Italian, English, South African, Neapolitan) into a single category.

"Mixed-breeds" are tracked according to the dog's predominant breed. For instance, if a rottweiler-mix is predominantly rottweiler, it is tracked in the rottweiler category. When both breeds are known, such as a rottweiler-boxer mix, the predominant breed is always listed first. When there are no prevailing breed characteristics or if the only information known is "mixed-breed," the dog is tracked in the mixed-breed category. Mixed-breeds are often part of pack attacks on Indian reservations.

Related examples:

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The effect of multi-breed attacks

A multi-breed attack is defined as a fatal dog attack involving multiple dogs of different breeds. For instance, the death of one human involving one mastiff, one pit bull and two rottweilers is a multi-breed attack involving three different dog breeds. The multi-breed effect causes a mismatch when comparing the total number of human deaths attributed to each breed versus the actual number of humans killed by dogs (e.g., one human death results in counting three different dog breeds).

From 2005 to 2017, 40 different dog breeds contributed to the deaths of over 400 American citizens. Due to the fact that 9.5% of these fatal dog attacks were multi-breed attacks, the total number of human deaths attributed to each dog breed exceeds the actual number of human deaths. This multi-breed effect mismatch could only be avoided if 100% of all dog bite fatalities, including fatal pack attacks, which can include over a dozen dogs, were each only comprised of a single dog breed.

Related examples:

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Web archiving past fatalities

Every five or six years after a fatal dog mauling, we try to connect our original dog bite fatality blog post's external links to the Internet Archive or materials we have previously captured. News articles have a limited online lifespan, depending upon the media outlet. Broken links and paywalls are ongoing problems that our nonprofit faces. Yet, we take this extra time to ensure that past dog bite fatalities can still be browsed by the public even though we already have this information internally.

Archived examples:

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Citations
  1. In May of 2026, one of the 2005 deaths was reclassified as a "struck by dog" death causing this death count to increase from 4 to 5.