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Dogs are the 3rd deadliest animal to humans (discounting humans themselves), but since they are popular pets and more like another family member in some Western

Dogs are the 3rd deadliest animal to humans (discounting humans themselves), but since they are popular pets and more like another family member in some Western countries, they get a big pass imho (or rather, their owners) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_deadliest_to_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_deadliest_to_h...

jefftk 1y ago
How much of being third deadliest is just there are tons of dogs around humans, so they have far more opportunities for an interaction to go poorly?
- rglynn 1y ago
  Yeah, given that I'm surprised the number isn't higher. Also there's this note: > Dogs seldom kill humans directly. Rather, they are primarily a vector that transmits rabies
xnx 1y ago
> Dogs are the 3rd deadliest animal to humans 4th according to that confusing chart (confusing because mosquitos are off to the side).
afiori 1y ago
This is like the statistics that cows kill more people than sharks, if it was common to keep bears as pets they would kill way more people than dogs
aitchnyu 1y ago
Looks like most of them are stray dog attacks. There was an Indian operation where 25% of dogs rounded up had rabies, and vaccines fail due to improper storage.
- n8henrie 1y ago
  What? 25%? Isn't rabies in dogs lethal in fairly short order (like in humans)? I'm pretty sure the rural county in which I work hasn't seen rabies in a dog since like 1986. I work in an emergency room (frequently caring for dog bites) in an area with numerous packs of strays. Dog rabies is always a concern, but I've never seen a confirmed case.
  - aitchnyu 1y ago
    https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2024/Sep/05/quarter-of-stray-dog-samples-in-thiruvananthapuram-test-rabies-positive https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2024/Sep/05/q...
    - n8henrie 1y ago
      These were tests done on carcasses, not on captured strays -- see also my parent comment. Rabies kills in short order.

jefftk 1y ago

How much of being third deadliest is just there are tons of dogs around humans, so they have far more opportunities for an interaction to go poorly?

rglynn 1y ago
Yeah, given that I'm surprised the number isn't higher. Also there's this note: > Dogs seldom kill humans directly. Rather, they are primarily a vector that transmits rabies

xnx 1y ago

> Dogs are the 3rd deadliest animal to humans 4th according to that confusing chart (confusing because mosquitos are off to the side).

afiori 1y ago

This is like the statistics that cows kill more people than sharks, if it was common to keep bears as pets they would kill way more people than dogs

aitchnyu 1y ago

Looks like most of them are stray dog attacks. There was an Indian operation where 25% of dogs rounded up had rabies, and vaccines fail due to improper storage.

n8henrie 1y ago
What? 25%? Isn't rabies in dogs lethal in fairly short order (like in humans)? I'm pretty sure the rural county in which I work hasn't seen rabies in a dog since like 1986. I work in an emergency room (frequently caring for dog bites) in an area with numerous packs of strays. Dog rabies is always a concern, but I've never seen a confirmed case.
- aitchnyu 1y ago
  https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2024/Sep/05/quarter-of-stray-dog-samples-in-thiruvananthapuram-test-rabies-positive https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2024/Sep/05/q...
  - n8henrie 1y ago
    These were tests done on carcasses, not on captured strays -- see also my parent comment. Rabies kills in short order.