Animal attacks

Injuries and infections

Bite injuries are often the consequences of an animal attack, including those instances when a human attacks another human. Human bites are the third most frequent type of bite after dog and cat bites. Dog bites are commonplace, with children the most commonly bitten and the face the most common target. In 1936, amputation was required in one third of cases in which treatment was delayed for 24 hours or longer.

Epidemiology and treatment

Animal bites are the most common form of injury from animal attacks. The US estimated annual count of animal bites is 250,000 human bites, 1 to 2 million dog bites, 400,000 cat bites, and 45,000 bites from snakes. Bites from skunks, horses, squirrels, rats, rabbits, pigs, and monkeys may be up to 1 percent of bite injuries. Pet ferrets attacks that were unprovoked have caused serious facial injuries. Non-domesticated animals though assumed to be more common especially as a cause of rabies infection, make up less than one percent of reported bite wounds. When a person is bitten, it is more likely to occur on the right arm, most likely due to defensive reactions when the victims uses her or his dominant arm. Estimates are that three quarters of bites are located on the arms or legs of humans. Bites to the face of humans constitutes only 10 percent of the total. Two thirds of bite injuries in humans are suffered by children aged ten and younger. The subsequent treatment for those who have been attacked (if they survive) depends on the injuries. Though trauma may be addressed first, subsequent infections are also treated with appropriate antibiotics.

Up to three fourths of dog bites happen to those younger than 20 years-old. In the United States, the costs associated with dog bites are estimated to be more than $1 billion annually. The age groups that suffer most from dog bites are children 5 to 9 years-old. Often, bites go unreported and no medical treatment given - these bites go unreported. As many as one percent of pediatric emergency room visits are for treatment for animal bites. This is more frequent during the summer months. Up to five percent of children receiving emergency care for dog bites are then admitted to the hospital. Bites typically occur in the late afternoon and early evening. Girls are bitten more frequently by cats than they are by dogs. Boys are bitten by dogs two times more often than girls are bitten by dogs.

Medical codes for animal attacks

Injuries resulting from encounters with animals occur with sufficient frequency to require the use of medical codes by clinicians and insurance companies to document such encounters. The ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes are used for the purpose of clearly identifying diseases, their causes, injuries in the United States. Clinicians use these codes to quantify the medical condition and its causes and to bill insurance companies for the treatment required as a result of encounters with animals.

dog bites

dolphin

sea lion

orca

fish

mice

rat

squirrel

Crocodiles

Crocodile attacks often result in fatalities. Estimates of deaths due to attacks by the Nile crocodile is estimated to be hundreds and possibly thousands yearly. Attacks by Nile crocodiles range from 275 to 745 per year. 63% of these are fatal. Only 30 attacks have been recorded per year by saltwater crocodiles, of which 50% are fatal. Fatal attacks are typically made by very large crocodiles are considered to be predatory. The Nile crocodile is considered to be the most prolific predator of humans among wild animals at this time. Crocodile tracking technology is currently under development that would prevent attacks.

African buffalo

In the early 1990s one African village suffered at least one human death and more than one attack from buffalo in the area of their village. The attacks stopped after a fence was built around the village to protect it.

Arthropods

Bees, wasps, scorpions, and other stinging or biting arthropods cause human fatalities but these are not as often characterized as 'attacks'. It may be difficult to characterize some of these encounters as offensive or defensive. An arthropod 'attack' instead of causing tissue trauma such as cutting, lacerating, crushing or the severing of body parts may instead cause a physiological reaction that results in human death. These effects are toxic effects and allergic effects.

Listing deaths due stings and allergic reactions from arthropods is not practical but some of the more unusual cases include:

Ants

In 2006 a 68-year-old South Carolina woman died after being attacked by fire ants while gardening. Residents in nursing homes have been attacked.

Jack jumper ants have caused numerous fatalities. In 1931 two adults and an infant were killed in New South Wales allegedly from jack jumper ants or Myrmecia pyriformis. In 1963 another caused by an ant attack documented in Tasmania. Identification of venom allergens began in the early 1990s. all in Tasmania and all due to anaphylactic shock. The fatality rate was one person every four years from the sting.

Bees

Africanized honey bees are known to attack people unprovoked.

Hornets

Asian giant hornets in China have killed at least 42 people injured 1,675 more.

Yellow jackets

1998 - A two-year-old boy died in Tampa, Florida when yellow jackets stung him.

2002 - An 83-year-old man died when yellow jackets stung him while doing yardwork in Hillsborough County, Florida.

2013 - A family in Atlanta, Georgia were attacked and were hospitalized.

Bears

162 bear attacks were reported in the United States between 1900 and 1985. This is about two reported bear attacks per year. During the 1990s bears killed around three people a year in the U.S. and Canada. A black bear killed three teenagers in Algonquin Park in Canada. The majority of attacks happened in national parks. 1028 incidences of black bears acting aggressively toward people, 107 of which resulted in injury, were recorded from 1964 to 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After a 20-year ban, Florida is considering legislation that may permit bear hunting to stop the expanding population of black bears that are a menace in suburban neighborhoods.

Asian black bears

Asian black bears are comparatively more aggressive toward humans than those of Europe. In India, attacks have increased. These occur near the Himalayan region. Here, attacks increased from 10 in 1988–89 to 21 in 1991–92. Recent bear attacks on humans have been reported from Junbesi National Park and Langtang National Park in Nepal, and occurred in villages as well as in the surrounding forest. Li Guoxing, the second person in history to have received a facial transplant, was a victim of a black bear attack.

Between 1979–1989 nine people were killed in Japan . In 2009 one bear attacked a group of tourists in central Japan.

European brown bears

Brown bears are considered unpredictable. In 2007, a fatality occurred in Finland from an attack by a European brown bear. Typically one or two people are attacked rather than groups, with no attacks being recorded against groups of more than seven.

Cassowaries

1926 – a 16-year-old Queensland boy

Ostriches

In 1997, a woman in South Africa was killed while walking through a field on an ostrich farm.

Bulls

Bulls attack and kill people on farms.

During 2010, a man and woman were walking through a field where a bull was pastured. The man was killed.

Chimpanzees

In 2012, villagers living near Virunga National Park were attacked by common chimpanzees. One girl was killed.

Jaguars

A jaguar at the John Ball Zoo fatally mauled a pregnant employee on December 9, 1985. A jaguar at the Denver Zoo slew a young female employee on February 24, 2007. A jaguar in Belize slew a young American man on October 25, 2010. It escaped after a tree fell on its cage during Hurricane Richard one night earlier.

Leopards

Leopard attacks remain a danger in some areas. One leopard in India killed over 200 people. Leopard attacks usually occur at night.

Lions

Lions enter areas occupied by humans. Lion attacks in Tanzania increased from 1990 to 2005. At least 563 villagers were attacked and many devoured over this period. Researchers argue that conservation policy contributes directly to human deaths. Lions have taken people from the center of large villages. Estimates stand at 550–700 people attacked by lions every year.

Tigers

Tigers kill more people than any other big cat, and tigers have been responsible for more human deaths through direct attack than any other wild mammal. One hundred twenty-nine people were killed by tigers in the Sundarbans from 1969–71. The Sundarbans are occupied by 600 Bengal tigers who before modern times used to "regularly kill fifty or sixty people a year" attacks continue to increase.

Well-known and documented tigers

Tigers of Chowgarh (1925–30)

Tiger of Mundachipallam

Tiger of Segur

Tigress of Champawat (killed in 1907)

Tigress of Jowlagiri

African Painted Dogs

On November 4, 2012, a two-year-old boy lost his life when African painted dogs mauled him after he fell in into their exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Zookeepers immediately rushed to that area, trying to fire darts in order to frighten the dogs away, and police shot one particularly aggressive dog, which had refused to retreat from the exhibit when called. The other dogs were quarantined for thirty days but there were not plans to put them down. The dogs were sent to other North American zoos.

Coyotes

Coyote attacks are uncommon and usually cause little harm but have become more frequent. This is especially true in California. Beginning 30 years prior to 2006 one hundred sixty took place mostly in the Los Angeles County region. 41 attacks occurred during 1988–1997, 48 attacks were verified from 1998 through 2003. The majority of these incidents occurred in Southern California. Some coyotes chase joggers and bicyclists, confront people walking their dogs, and stalk small children. The coyotes that roam Eastern Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States are known as coywolves due to their hybrid with wolves.

Non-fatal attacks:

1978 - a coyote attacked a five-year-old girl in Pasadena, California outside of her home.

1979 - a coyote attacked a five-year-old girl in La Verne, California. Her father and a neighbor saved the child from being dragged off, but not before she had suffered deep bites on neck, head, and legs.

1980 - a coyote in Agoura Hills, California grabbed a thirteen-month-old baby girl by the midsection and started dragging her off. The baby suffered puncture wounds but was saved by her mother.

1988 - an eight-year-old girl was bitten by a coyote while rollerskating in Oceanside, California when she fell to the ground. Two women chased the coyote away by throwing rocks at it.

1992 - a coyote in San Clemente, California attacked a five-year-old girl biting her several times on her back. The girl climbed her swing set to escape, and her mother chased the coyote off.

1995 - a five-year-old girl was knocked down twice by a coyote before being rescued by her mother in California's Griffith Park.

1997 - a coyote attacked a two-year-old boy in Tucson, Arizona's Wildlife Ridge Park, but did not damage his skin. The next day in that same park, a four-year-old boy was bitten and scratched and a twenty-two-month-old toddler was bitten around her right eye and required seven stitches for serious puncture injuries.

1998 - a four-year-old boy who was bitten by a coyote while playing in the backyard of his home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. His mother tried force the coyote to go away, but it kept being around. A police officer responded to her telephone call to shoot and kill it.

2001 - a coyote seriously injured a seven-year-old girl in Northridge, California, but was finally fought off by her mother.

2003 - an eastern coyote bit an eighteen-year-old girl on the arm while she was hiking with her parents on the Skyline Trail at Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia.

2007 - a coyote jumped out from a small line of bushes and bit a 5-year-old boy as he and his sister walked home from a neighbor's house in Middletown, New Jersey. He survived due to his sister's scream when she saw the incident, but needed 46 stitches in the back of his head and rabies shots.

2008 - a nine-year-old boy was bitten by a coyote while snowboarding with his six-year-old brother on a golf course behind their house in Erie, Colorado. He used the snowboard to fend off the attack, but was bitten on the arm. A coyote in the area was then killed, but it wasn't clear if that was the same one that had bitten the boy, so he began a course of treatment for rabies.

2009 - a two-year-old girl in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia was bitten by a coyote on a school playground. Adults near the area came to the little girl's aid and frightened the coyote away.

2010 - a five-year-old girl was bitten by a coyote while she was walking with her parents and their dog in Vernon, British Columbia. Two teenage Boy Scouts were bitten a coyote while they were sleeping outside their camping tent near Pole 3 in Port Aransas, Texas. These two boys were taken to a hospital in Corpus Christi for a treatment in rabies shots.

2011 - a two-year-old girl was bitten on the neck by a coyote at a playground in Cave Creek, Arizona. She began a course of treatment for rabies after the adults saved her.

2012 - a fourteen-year-old boy was attacked by a coyote while riding on his dirt bike in Westmount, Nova Scotia. His body armour, motocross pants and boots prevented his fatal injuries.

2013 - a three-year-old boy in Chicago, Illinois mistook a coyote for a domestic dog and was bitten in the face.

2015 - a middle-aged man in Norwood, New Jersey was working in his garden when a coyote attacked him.Two men were attacked by a coyote in Groveland, Massachusetts outside both of their houses. One of them had his four-year-old daughter with him.

2016 - a rabid coyote mauled a man who was walking in the woods with his two daughters in Lincoln, Pennsylvania. A coyote bit two women and a domesticated dog in Wolcott, New York.

2017 - a sixty-six-year-old man who walked with two other adults and their domestic dogs along the Columbia Trail in Long Valley, New Jersey was mauled by a rabid coyote. The man fended it with a stick and police officers subsequently euthanized the animal. Three coyotes in Alliston, Ontario attacked a man who took his dog for a walk. The man's dog was able to fend them off. Neither the man or his dog had any serious injuries.

Dingo

A young mother was tried and convicted for the murder of her young daughter in 1980, though she claimed that dingos had taken her. Evidence later proved her account was true.

Dogs

Larger dogs are responsible for most animal bites overall and are the most common type of dog that bites with a fatal outcome. In the United States there are 10 to 20 fatal human attacks annually. Not one breed is responsible for most of the bites but at least 25 breeds of dogs were identified in the two hundred thirty-eight fatalities in the past 25 years.

Pit bull bites are particularly serious because they tend to bite deeply multiple times and grind their molars into tissue. Most of the time, the victim is known by the owner of the dog. On fewer occasions, the bites suffered by the victim is their own dog. Only about ten percent of dog bites are from strays. The National Health and Human Services agency in the United States reports that 9.9% of deaths caused by animals were from dogs.

Wolves

Kirov wolf attacks

Wolf of Ansbach

Wolf of Gysinge

Wolf of Sarlat

Wolf of Soissons

Wolves of Ashta

Wolves of Hazaribagh

Wolves of Paris

Wolves of Périgord

Wolves of Turku

Elephants

Wild elephants have attacked, harmed and killed people. This fatal incident caused many in the public to discontinue the use of elephants in circus acts. Jacky Boxberger, an Olympic athlete, Bùi Thị Xuân, a Vietnamese woman general and Allen Campbell, a professional elephant trainer were attacked and killed by Asian elephants. Elephants have attacked people in villages in India.

In a very rare case, according to The Huffington Post, a 7-year old girl died on Tuesday, July 27th 2016, after an elephant at the Rabat-Temara Zoo accidentally threw a stone at her.

During the past five years there were 37,512 cases of wild elephant attacks with 54 casualties in Pu'er, south China's Yunnan Province

Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus is often cited as the most dangerous animal in Africa, with claims that it kills more people in Africa than lions or elephants, but there is no reliable research to support this.

Rhinoceros

In May 2003, Mark Crozier and his brother Sean were on a game walk with a group of safari hikers led by two armed rangers when a black rhinoceros attacked them during their walk at Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park in South Africa. Two game rangers fired warning shots at the rhinoceros while the tourists hid in a dense bush. Both of the Crozier brothers had severe wounds.

On April 15, 2004, a white rhinoceros at Kruger National Park charged and lifted up safari guide Elias Chauke with its horn before he was able to pull his trigger at it. His colleague, Dumisani Zwane, hit the rhinoceros as it passed him, making it drop Chauke. Meanwhile another black rhinoceros charged at the group of five tourists, injuring one man, Botha from Vereeniging, in the buttocks and the back.

A black rhinoceros gored a female wildlife researcher in a holding pen at Hluhluwe–Imfolozi on September 21, 2004. A month later, another black rhinoceros struck a young male Zululand contractor in the right side of the chest and he fell screaming to the ground to attract the attention of his colleagues.

Hyenas

Attacks on humans by spotted hyenas are underreported. A pair of hyenas were responsible for killing 27 people in Mulanje, Malawi in 1962. In 1910 spotted hyenas were observed to kill sufferers of African sleeping sickness as they slept outside in camps.

Komodo dragons

A man was bitten and subsequently lost his big toe to a Komodo dragon. Attacks occur infrequently in Indonesia.

Macaque

A six week old infant was killed in her home while sleeping by a macaque that entered through the window. The animal had escaped from a zoo.

Sharks

Out of the four hundred eighty shark species, only three are responsible for the majority of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger and bull. The oceanic whitetip has likely killed castaways, not recorded in the statistics.

Snakes

The National Health and Human Services agency in the United States reported 66 fatalities between 1979 and 1990 from snakes.

Pythons

Species of python have attacked people and caused human fatalities. These include:

Early 19th century – Two people in Indonesia

1910 or 1927 – a man on a hunting trip from Burma.

1932 – a Filipino teenager was consumed by his pet.

1995 – a 29-year-old tapper from southern Malaysia

2008 – a 25-year-old woman.

2009, a 3-year-old Las Vegas boy was attacked but rescued before being asphyxiated.

2009, a two-year-old Orlando area girl was killed

African Rock pythons

An African rock python killed two boys in Campbellton, New Brunswick in 2013.

Wild Boars

In 2014, a wild boar gored a woman several times while she was walking her dogs. After the initial attack, the woman mistakenly believed the boar had left, and attempted to stand. But the boar attacked again.