what is really killing our kids (guess what, it isn't your local staffy/mastiff!)

In the news this week, here in Australia, we hear the tragic news of a beloved pet dog mauling a toddler to his death. As usual, whenever this happens, there is an absolute flood of emotive media claiming to ban the breed responsible. Are dogs really killing our kids?

According to the Bureau of Statistics, Health of Children, 2004, death in infancy is higher in indigenous groups but overall rates have dramatically fallen due to better education and sanitation (no mention of dog attacks). With our kids aged between 1 - 14 years, it was reported that majority of mortality was due to poisoning, road related accidents, leukaemia and brain cancer (still nothing on dogs - how can this be?). If you would like to read more about the stats on the Health of Children in Australia, you can do so by clicking here.

Ok, so we now know the most common causes of deaths in children. I want to know just how many of our kids are being mauled to death by the pets that live under own roof. I stumbled across the work from Linda Watson, a Research Fellow and PhD candidate at Monash University Accident Research Centre. She states that there have been over 33 dog bite related deaths since 1979 (11 of which are in my home state of Victoria). While every death is tragic to the individual family, I wonder what else has similar statistics? (to read Linda's research, click here).  In the UK, sixteen people have lost their lives after a dog attack since 2005 (as quoted by the BBC).

I failed to find any official statistics of dog related deaths in children within Australia but I did find some statistics from the United States. 2% of Americans (including adults), will be bitten by a dog each year, about 0.0002% of these dog attacks (less than 0.00001% of the U.S. population) result in death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Let's look at the population in the United States for 2013 thus far. 313.9 million. and 0.0002% of that is 627 people. I agree, too many! But let's look at other percentages and death of Americans (read more Centers for Disease Control & Prevention). While we are talking population, the UK stands at approx 57 million while Australia estimates around 23 million. (If the statistics of dog bite related deaths were the same as the USA, Australia would be looking at around 46 per year). 

Number of deaths for leading causes of death of humans in America

• Heart disease: 597,689 (ban fatty food?)
• Cancer: 574,743 (ban smoking, polution & unhealthy lifestyles?)
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080 (ban smoking & find a cure for asthma?)
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859 (ban human error, become a robot?)
• Alzheimer's disease: 83,494
• Diabetes: 69,071 (ban sugar?)
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 50,097
• Intentional self-harm (suicide): 38,364 (ban the sale of useful items incase one person uses it to harm themselves. this includes- over the counter medicine, knives, plastic bags, ropes, cords, guns etc?)

If I can group "dog bite related deaths" in children, in with other "accidental" deaths (like you, I am sure you would acknowledge that it would be highly unusual for a dog to wake up and decide to commit a murder). I'm reading about drowning, motor vehicle accidents, suffocation (ie, a foreign body caught in one's throat i presume). Still nothing on dogs! I decide to look at how many children are dying by these accidental causes.

Thirty-four kids died by water related accidents in 2009-10 (ban swimming and bathing?). as per the raising children website.
Twice as many kids died from traffic related incidents that from drowning (ban cars and roads?) as per the ABS.
In 1992, there were 29 accidental deaths by suffocation and/or asphyxiation. (ban eating and playing unsupervised for the under 14's?) as per Prof T Nolan, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.  

Also, as per the Save the Children website "Poor maternal health is also a large contributor to child deaths in Australia. A number of factors cause poor maternal health such as the lack of nutrition for mothers, high levels of smoking and alcohol consumption as well as poor access to quality health care." S.T.C website.


Some fairly important issues for society to consider here including above all, how we monitor, feed and guide our children. Leave a small child alone with a dog and I believe it is the parents' fault if a tragic event occurs. Kids will be kids (and taunt animals), Dogs will be dogs (and bite back). Bring up your children to respect animals (rather than look upon them as toys) and bring up your dogs responsibly. 

Here is a photo of my Staffy X, that I adopted (from the pound) at three years of age with no knowledge of her prior history. She is with her best friend, the six month old kitten! Pretty scary?