[pct-l] PCT bear attacks...........

[Eric Lee]

BigToe wrote:
>
> Just to put this in context, do you have statistics regarding domestic dog bite injuries/fatalities for California?
> 

According to a fairly old article published by the CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00047723.htm, there were 279 dog-attack fatalities across the U.S. for the 15 years from 1979 to 1994, or about 18 per year, compared to 0.1 per year for bears.
 
The other factor that influences an evaluation of risk is the population size and rate of exposure.  That is, there are a lot more dog-related fatalities than bear-related fatalities, but then there are presumably a lot more dogs in the U.S. than bears and a lot more people are regularly exposed to dogs than to bears.  So is the average dog more dangerous than the average bear?  I have no idea.

The CDC article goes on to state, "In 1986, nonfatal dog bites resulted in an estimated 585,000 injuries that required medical attention or restricted activity; in that year, dog bites ranked 12th among the leading causes of nonfatal injury in the United States. In 1994, an estimated 4.7 million persons (1.8% of the U.S. population) sustained a dog bite; of these, approximately 800,000 (0.3%) sought medical care for the bite."
 
Wow, that's a lot of dog bites.

I think the comparison to lightning is more interesting because at least there you're talking about kinda/sorta the same group of outdoor enthusiasts.  Still pretty rough, though.

Eric 		 	   		  
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