There are a lot of different ways animals can kill you, whether it鈥檚 through a bite, a sting, or a kick. Every six years聽or thereabouts, the scientific journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine publishes a study breaking down direct fatal encounters between human and beast. This January, the journal put out the latest聽, which references CDC data from 2008 to 2015.
鈥淯nderstanding the most common reasons for human deaths after encounters with animals is important for improving overall public health and forming sound strategies to reduce these risks of death,鈥 says Jared Forrester, a doctor at Stanford and聽the lead author on the study. We took his results and combined them with stats from a few other sources to give you a look at the numbers.
201
Deaths per year caused through direct contact with animals in the United States.
49
Percentage of all deaths suffered by people in the American South, one of four regions.
72
Deaths caused by 鈥渙ther mammals,鈥 the most represented category in the study. It鈥檚 estimated that most of these injuries are farm-related and caused most often by horses and cattle.
1
Death per year caused by sharks, according to data from the聽.
60
Deaths per聽year from hornets, wasps, and bees鈥攖he second most represented category in the study.
72
Percentage of all animal-related deaths suffered by men.
6
Deaths from venomous snakes each聽year.
34
Deaths per year from dogs, the third most represented category in the study.
9
Deaths per聽year from dogs to children age four or younger鈥攖hey suffer at a rate nearly twice that of the next closest age group.
4.5 Million
Dog bites per year in the United States, a number from a聽.
80
Percentage of all animal-related deaths suffered by Caucasians.
1
Death caused by a crocodile or alligator over the eight-year study period.
189
Deaths caused by聽, a type of fatality not included in the study.