It is believed that approximately 28 dogs were involved in 11 deaths between 1995 and 2011 in Australia. One dog caused 6 fatalities (55%), Two dogs caused 2 fatalities (18%), Three to four dogs caused 2 fatalities (18%) and 11 dogs caused 1 fatality (9%). Ref 3
The four most popular Registered Pure-bred dogs according to the Australian National Kennel Council) were: Labrador Retriever (8.3%), German Shepherd (6.3%), Staffordshire Bull Terrier (5.9%) and Golden Retriever (4.8%) in eighth place is the Rottweilers (2.4%).
Breeds involved in human deaths were: Rottweiler (4), Siberian Husky (1), Cattle Dog (1), Rottweiler X German Shepherd (1), Dingo X Labrador (1), Pit Bull X Mastiff (1), Great Dane X Mastiff (1), Great Dane X Bull Terrier (1), Medium size mixed breed (3), Large mixed breed (3) and Giant Mixed Breed (11) including Greyhounds, Mastiffs and Irish Wolfhounds.
Australia has an estimated dog population of 3,400,000 and an average of 1.1 fatalities per year (33 over the last 30 years), equating to one death per 3,090,909 dogs.
The following table shows the breeds responsible for these deaths.
Australian Dog Breeds Causing Death. YR 1995 - 2011
Breed
|
Deaths
|
Rottweiller
|
4
|
Husky
|
1
|
Cattle dog
|
1
|
Rottweiller GSD X
|
1
|
Dingo X lab
|
1
|
Pit bull X mastiff
|
1
|
Great dane x Mastiff
|
1
|
Gread dane x Bull terrier
|
1
|
Medium sized mixed breed
|
3
|
Large mixed breed
|
3
|
Giant mixed breed (11)
|
11
|
total
|
28
|
From such relatively low numbers of deaths caused by dogs in Australia you might wonder why breed specific legislation (BSL) is being proposed.
Because the American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) is not recognised as an official breed in Australia it isn't included in the statistics. It is believed that there are nearly 70,000 Pure-bred, registered “Pit Bull Types” (Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Bull Terrier & Bull Terrier) currently in Australia. Add to this number the unregistered 'pit bulls' and cross breeds and the numbers could be much higher.
It is believed that the American Staffordshire bull terrier (9,000 pure bred and 34,000 mixed breeds) is replacing the banned pit bull breeds such as the APBT.
The relatively low rate of one fatality per year in Australia makes extrapolation of these statistics useless.
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