Dog Crimes on the Rise | Animal Cruelty Facts and Stats

In 2018 over a third of the payments made by insurance companies for liability claims were due to crimes committed by peoples dogs. That accounted for 700 million dollars in data shared by the I.I.I or the Insurance Information Institute.

When the Insurance Information Institute released their yearly data, it shows that dog bite crimes are on the rise, in 2016 there were 18,122 cases of dog crime in the country, in 2017, 18,552, in 2018 19,108. That’s around a 2% increase per year. On top of this, the payout made for each claim was, on average, 12% higher. In 2016 dog bite payouts averaged out to around 33,00 dollars; one year later, in 2017, they averaged out to 37,000 dollars. That’s a 5000$ increase in just one year.

The top three states to avoid if you want to statistically avoid dog bites are California, Florida, and PA. California is the worst place in the country for dog bites, with the most significant number of claims, with 1900 cases in 2016, they saw a staggering increase in crimes in 2017 with nearly 400 more severe incidents. They also take the top spot for the highest value of claims, their claims, added up, cost almost 90 million dollars a year.

If you ever find yourself in need of a dog bite accident attorney, follow this link for help and guidance.

Fatal Dog Bites

Lucky enough for most Americans, crimes involving dogs that result in a fatality are extremely rare. During each year, around 40 people die from being bitten. However, it does seem that the number of fatal dog attacks are increasing at the same rate as ordinary dog attack crimes.

The problem runs deeper than this too, dog attacks that aren’t reported and bites that lead to deaths through long term conditions do not get counted in any of the statistics. With an estimated 18% of dog bites leading to infected wounds and cases of septic shock and rabies. 2018 also saw the highest female death count ever recorded; over 77% of victims who died from dog mauling were female in 2018. 

Breeds Most Likely to Bite

OF the 36 dog attacks leading to a fatality in 2018, a staggering 72% of those attacks were from Pit Bulls. To put things in perspective that is 26 deaths, the next closest breed in 2018, claimed only three deaths total.

Why Do Dogs Bite

With only 19% of dog bites causing injuries that require treatment medically, you are still at relatively low risk of being bitten in the USA. In fact, the chance of dying from damage caused by a dog bite is only around 1 in 112 thousand. To put that in perspective, you are twice as likely to die from a storm or from bees. And approximately ten times as likely to die from an air or traffic incident. Dying from a firearm discharge put you at a risk of around 1 in 7000, and choking from food gives you a 1 in 300 chance of mortality.

The best way to avoid any danger caused by dogs is to take due care when approaching unfamiliar dogs, and if one attacks, don’t panic or make loud noises just walk away calmly.