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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 countries, they get a big pass imho (or rather, their owners) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_deadliest_to_h...


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


> Dogs are the 3rd deadliest animal to humans

4th according to that confusing chart (confusing because mosquitos are off to the side).


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?


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


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.


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.



These were tests done on carcasses, not on captured strays -- see also my parent comment. Rabies kills in short order.




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