RESEARCH PAPER
Injuries due to human and animal aggression in humans
 
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Forensic, University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
 
2
Department of Anatomy, University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
 
 
Ann Agric Environ Med. 2013;20(1):91-95
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Introduction. People breed animals, professionally take care of them, and work with them. To live with animals, however, it is necessary to know their behaviour and habits, as well as fears. Ignorance of this knowledge may lead to tragedy for the victim (a person), as well as for the beast (animal). Then, nobody cares whether the animal behaved itself or not in accordance with its nature. Objective. The aim of the presented study is to compare the rate of animal aggression in relation to cases of documented aggression towards humans. The victims were investigated according to the age, gender and types of injuries caused by animal bites. Material and methods. The protocols of autopsies (2,218) and medical-legal examinations (4,569) performed from 2004-2009 in the Department of Forensic Sciences in Poznań were analyzed. The selected data was studied using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 for Windows. Results. Analysis revealed the presence of animal bite injuries in less than 1% of the deceased victims of aggression. The number of individuals who died as a result of animal bites varied from 1-4 a year, and in all cases these were postmortem injuries. Analysis of injuries among surviving victims of aggression showed animal bite injuries were present in 41 out of 4,569 victims, almost equally among males and females. Moreover, in 25 victims the bite injuries recognized as human were found. The majority of animal bites occurred in adults. The medium injuries were the most frequent in the animal bite victims. Conclusions. Animal aggression is a marginal problem considering all cases of aggression towards humans. In contrast to the aggression of humans towards other humans, this is a very rare cause of human death or even major injury.
REFERENCES (28)
1.
Borkowski T: Agresja. Pies. ZKwP. 1999; 6(278): 278-282.
 
2.
Santoro V, Smaldone G, Lozito P, Smaldone M, Intorna F. A forensic approach to fatal dog attacks. A case study and review od teh literature. Forensic Sci Int. 2011; 206: 37-42.
 
3.
Raszeja S, Nasiłowski W, Markiewicz J. Medycyna Sądowa pik dla studentów. PZWL Warszawa, 1993.
 
4.
Griego RD, Rosen T, Orengo IF, Wolf JE. Dog, cat, and human bites: a review. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1995; 33(6): 1019-1029.
 
5.
Rzepecka-Woźniak E. Śmiertelne przypadki pogryzienia przez psy. Arch Med Sąd Krym. 2006; LVI: 56-60.
 
6.
Borchelt PL. Aggressive behavior of dogs kept as companion animals: Classification and influence of sex, reproductive status and breed. Appl Animal Ethol. 1983; 10: 45-61.
 
7.
Wright JC, Nesselrote MS. Classification of behavior problems in dogs: Distributions of age, breed, sex and reproductive status. App Animal Beh Sci. 1987; 19: 169-178.
 
8.
Amat M, de la Torre JLR, Fatjó J, Mariotti VM, Van Wijk S, Manteca X. Potential risk factors associated with feline behavior problems. Appl Animal Beh Sci. 2009; 21: 134-139.
 
9.
Wells DL. The welfare of dogs in an animal welfare shelter, PhD Thesis, School of Psychology, The Queen’s University of Belfast, 1996.
 
10.
Khoshnegah J, Azizzadeh M, Gharaie AM. Risk factors for the development of behavior problems in a population of Iranian domestic dogs: Results of a pilot survey. Appl Animal Beh Sci. 2011; 131: 123-130.
 
11.
De Napoli JS, Dodman NH, Shuster L, Rand WM, Gross KL. Effect of dietary content and tryptophan supplementation on dominance aggression, territorial aggression, and hyperactivity in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000; 217: 504-508.
 
12.
O’Sullivan EN, Jones BR, O’Sullivan K, Hanlon AJ. The management and behavioural history of 100 dogs reported for biting a person. Appl Animal Beh Sci. 2008; 114: 149-158.
 
13.
Bhattacharjee Ch, Bradley P, Smith M, Scally AJ, Wilson BJ. Do animals bite more during a full moon? Retrospective observational analysis BMJ. 2000; 321(7276): 559-1561.
 
14.
Boenning DA, Fleisher GR, Campos JM. Dog bites in children: epidemiology, microbiology, and penicillin prophylactic therapy. Am J Emerg Med. 1983; 1(1): 17-23.
 
15.
Kizer K, Town M. Epidemiologic and clinical aspects of animal bite injuries. J Am Coll Emerg Phys. 1979; 8:134-141.
 
16.
Goldstein EJ. Management of human and animal bite wounds. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1989; 21(6): 1275-1279.
 
17.
Dire DJ. Emergency management of the dog and cat bite wounds. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 1992; 10: 719-736.
 
18.
Szpakowski NM, Bonnett BN, Martin SW. An epidemiological investigation into the reported incidents of dog biting in the City of Guelph. Can Vet J. 1989; 30: 937-942.
 
19.
Bernardo LM, Gardner MJ, Rosenfield RL, Cohen B., Pitetti R. A comparison of dog bite injuries in younger and older children treated in a pediatric emergency department. Ped Emerg Care. 2002; 18: 247-249.
 
20.
Meints K, deKeuster T. Brief Report: Don’t Kiss a Sleeping Dog: The First Assessment of “The Blue Dog” Bite Prevention Program. J Pediatr Psychol. 2009; 34(10): 1084-1090.
 
21.
Luescher AU, Reisner IR. Canine Aggression Toward Familiar People: A New Look at an Old Problem Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice 2008; 38(5): 1107-1130.
 
22.
Cornelissen JM, Hopster H. Dog bites in The Netherlands: a study of victims, injuries, circumstances and aggressors to support evaluation of breed specific legislation. Vet J. 2010; 186(3): 292-298.
 
23.
Kodeks Wykroczeń, Ustawa z dnia 20 maja 1971r (Dz. U. 71 Nr 109 poz. 756 z póź. zm.).
 
24.
Goldstein EJ. Bite wounds and infection. Clin Infect Dis. 1992; 14(3): 633-638.
 
25.
Marr J, Beck A, Lugo J. An epidemiologic study of the human bite. Public Health Rep. 1979; 94: 514-521.
 
26.
Callaham ML. Human and animal bites. Top Emerg Med. 1982; 4: 1-15.
 
27.
Callaham M. Controversies in antibiotic choices for bite wounds. Ann Emerg Med. 1988; 17: 1321-1330.
 
28.
Vale GL, Nogouchi TT. Anatomic distribution of human bite marks in a series of 67 cases. J Forensic Sci. 1983; 28: 61-69.
 
eISSN:1898-2263
ISSN:1232-1966
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top