Tag Archives: attacks

Health, News

How Many Seattle Postal Carriers Were Bitten By Dogs in 2012?

“Terror Dog,” courtesy of our Flickr pool’s Great Beyond. 

May 19 to 25 is Dog Bite Prevention Week, and the U.S. Postal Service is helping publicize it the hard way: by counting up all the dog bites postal carriers got in 2012 (5,879). On an absolute number-of-bites basis, the “Dog Bite City” crown goes to Los Angeles with 69, but peaceful, sleepy little Seattle sneaks in second with 42 dog bites (tied with San Antonio, TX).

But what happens if you control for population? The city of Los Angeles has been estimated to be home to somewhere between 300,000 and 600,000 dogs, accompanying its human population of some 3.8 million. But Seattle’s dogs are estimated to be some 140,000-strong, with only 620,000 potential owners to go around. Looked at this way, Seattle’s dogs are biting well above their weight. Seattle may even exceed famously dog-crazy San Francisco, with its 38 attacks per estimated 120,000 dogs in a city of more than 800,000 inhabitants.

But dogs aren’t simply interested in taking a bite out of USPS shin, the Postal Service reminds you. The number of attacks their staff suffers “pales in comparison to the 4.7 million Americans annually bitten by dogs — more than half of whom are children.” (That 4.7-million estimate came from research done in 1994.) It’s also estimated that nearly 80 percent of people attacked are bitten by the dogs owned by family and friends.

It’s difficult to find statistics on dog bites locally — it’s been said that King County sees “more than 1,000 dog bite incidences reported each year,” which would likely understate the number of attacks (people tend not to report being bitten by their family’s dog, or a friend’s pet). A 20-year survey of dog bites by the CDC (pdf) found that while it was difficult to say if a particular breed was more or less likely to attack, pit bull-type dogs and Rottweilers were more likely to kill. (Seattle remains nervous about pit bulls — even a recent stabbing at Cal Anderson Park turned out to be pit bull-related.)

Here is relaxing slideshow of dogs from our Flickr pool not attacking people, to compensate for all of that nastiness.

Still, all this biting, of course, is just one more reason why people should think twice about bringing their dog into a grocery store. If you think a dog might be inclined to use you as a chew toy, says the American Veterinary Medical Association, try these tips:

  • Don’t run past a dog. Dogs naturally love to chase and catch things.
  • Never disturb a dog that is caring for puppies, sleeping or eating.
  • If a dog approaches to sniff you, stay still. In most cases, the dog will go away when it determines you are not a threat.
  • If you are threatened by a dog, remain calm. Don’t scream or yell. If you say anything, speak calmly and firmly. Avoid eye contact. Try to stay still until the dog leaves, or back away slowly until the dog is out of sight. Don’t turn and run.
  • If you fall or are knocked to the ground, curl into a ball with your hands over your head and neck. Protect your face.
Environment, News

Crows Know Where You Live, Never Forget a Face

Crows. It’s not your imagination. They are out to get you. Or at least, scare you off.

It’s that time of year when territorial crows are looking out for their young, and feeling ill-tempered enough to take a dive at just about anyone who comes to close to the nest or their crow babies. Joggers. Ballard residents. Even cops. Like bullies on a corner, these birds do not care about your health, Scandinavian family tree, or badge–unless it’s very shiny.

Part of the human-crow elbow-room issue could be due to population pressures (I speculate). Seattle’s crow population seems to have grown “exponentially” between 1970 and 2000, according to one survey. Thereafter, it seems to have reached a plateau, and if that’s true, it could indicate maximum-crows-per-square-inch, meaning territory is at a premium, and crows may be forced to nest in areas that are more public than they’d prefer.

No matter how you look at it, there’s a lot of crows out there. The Seattle Audubon Society counted “18,180 American crows in the greater Seattle area” in 2009.

And if you’ve ever upset one of them, you’ve upset a lot of them. Seattle’s crow whisperer, the University of Washington’s John Marzluff, has studied how crows specifically remember a threatening face, and transmit that information to other crows.

When a crow loudly scolds you, it’s also calling to others to note the threat. Any crows in the area will join in harassing you out of the vicinity. Marzluff says the do-not-disturb zone is some 330 feet. But even afterwards, through the power of social networks, any of those crows will recognize you as a threat, and pass along that information to crows nearby:

“Our study shows the memory lasts at least five years and counting,” Marzluff said. “Individual crows that are adults can live 15-40 years in the wild (most die when young, but those that make it to adulthood can live a long time) and they probably remember important associations they have formed for much of their lives.”

They are the eye in the sky, looking at you. They can probably read your mind. For a good example of what scolding crows sound like, here’s “When Crows Attack.”