This is a list of human deaths caused by dogs, which became publicly known in the form of reports, cause of death statistics, scientific papers, or other sources. For more information on causes of death and studies related to dog bite-related fatalities, see Fatal dog attacks.
Since 1998 deaths have been collected according to ICD-10 International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. With the help of cause-of-death statistics, recommendations for action and strategies can be derived, for example, for epidemiological research, prevention of deaths, and so on. [1] Deaths from or after dog bites are very rare, they count as preventable deaths. W 54: Bitten or Struck by dog is the classification according to ICD-10. [2]
According to an evaluation of the number of deaths in the period from 2009 to 2019, an average of 3.3 people died per year throughout Germany. The states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Saarland had no deaths during this period. In 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2019, there were no deaths nationwide, according to statistics. [3] [4]
Deaths per year according to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany: [5]
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| Date | Age | Sex | Dog type (Number) | Location | Circumstances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 24, 2024 | 35 | M | American Bully XL | Schleswig-Holstein, Geesthacht | According to the police, the dog had already seriously injured the owner's partner two weeks earlier when she fell on the icy road. The man was found by a passerby, he was covered in blood and suffered serious injuries to both his arms. When the officers arrived, the dog was sitting next to the 35-year-old. The dog then aggressively charged the paramedics who tried to help. The police shot the dog. The man died in hospital. [6] |
| January 9, 2024 January 10, 2024† | 88 | F | German Shepherd | Saxony-Anhalt, Halberstadt, Emersleben | The woman was discovered with hypothermia and bite wounds. She died the next day. The autopsy concluded that she died from blood loss. The charges of involuntary manslaughter against the 53-year-old dog owner and breeder were dropped in August 2024. The investigation revealed that the dog was in a closed kennel on private property and could not have gotten out on its own. It remained unclear why the victim went into the kennel. The dog was not euthanized. [7] [8] |
| April 6, 2023 | 81 | M | English Bulldog (4) | Brandenburg, Worin | The victim was bitten by the neighbor's four dogs while mowing the lawn. He suffered severe injuries to his arms and legs and died in hospital four weeks later. [9] |
| January 10, 2023 | 87 | F | American Bully | Rhineland-Palatinate, Neuhofen, Rheinauen | According to the police, the woman wanted to carry a package to her relatives' house when the family dog she knew well grabbed it. The relatives saw the attack but were unable to stop it in time. The woman died at the scene. The dog had not previously been noticed as aggressive. The police believe it was an accident. The dog was seized by the public order office and taken to an animal shelter. It was decided to euthanize the dog when resocialization was not possible. [10] [11] |
| December 2022 | 40 | M | Labrador | North Rhine-Westphalia, Weeze | A racing cyclist collided with another cyclist's dog while overtaking him and fell. He died a few days later in hospital. The police believe it was a tragic accident because the dog did not run directly towards the racing cyclist. [12] |
| April 10, 2018 | <1 | M | Pit bull type | Hesse, Bad König | The family dog "Kowu" bit the 7-month-old infant in the head, it died later in the hospital. Police described the dog as a possible Staffordshire mix. [13] |
| April 2018 | 52 | F | American Staffordshire Terrier cross | Hanover | The dog owner's sisters saw a lifeless body lying on the floor through the apartment window. Firefighters broke into the apartment and found the two victims covered in blood. The dog named "Chico" was taken to a shelter. Nearly 300,000 people signed the online petitions demanding that the dog be rescued and that it be given a chance for resocialization. The case was also made explosive by the fact that the dog was already known to the responsible authorities. Neighbors had already complained years ago about the barking and reported that he was not kept in a manner appropriate to the species. The dog was later euthanized. [14] [15] |
| 27 | M | ||||
| 2018 | 52 | F | Unknown | Lower Saxony | The woman sustained a minor injury from a dog bite and died due to an infection with capnocytophaga canimorsus 4 to 6 days later. [16] |
| December 16, 2017 | 47 | M | Rottweiler | Saxony, Chemnitz, Roßwein | The man was attacked while walking the dog. His mother tried to get the dog away from him, which took about 15 minutes. He died due to blood loss. [17] [18] |
| May 30, 2017 | 72 | F | Kangal | Baden-Württemberg, Sigmaringen, Stetten am kalten Markt | According to the public prosecutor's office, the Kangal attacked the victim when she passed the property on a footpath where the dog was kept. He killed her with bites to the head and neck. Police killed the dog. [19] |
| November 8, 2011 | 62 | M | Dobermann | Thuringia, Nordhausen, Wülfingerode | The son found his father, bitten to death by his own dog. It is unclear why the dog attacked the man. [20] [21] [22] |
| October 10, 2010 | 57 | F | Rottweiler x | Thuringia, Sömmerda, Kindelbrück | The family dog attacked and killed the woman. The dog was euthanized. [23] |
| September 2010 | 3 | M | Rottweiler | Saxony-Anhalt, Wittenberg, Zörnigall | The boy was visiting his great-grandmother who was caring for the dog named "Spike", the pet of the boy's father. The boy had known the dog since birth. The police shot the animal several times to clear the way for the emergency doctor to get to the boy. [24] [25] |
| May 21, 2010 | 3 | F | American Staffordshire Terrier (4) | Thuringia, Oldisleben-Sachsenburg | The girl was attacked by her aunt's dogs. The great-grandmother came to the rescue of the girl and was seriously injured. All dogs were euthanized by authorities with the aunt's consent. [26] The aunt was charged with negligent homicide. [27] [28] [29] The Nordhausen district court has sentenced the dog owner to one year of probation and 80 hours of community service for negligent homicide. [30] |
| April 2010 | <1 | F | Husky x German Shepherd | Brandenburg , Cottbus, Saspow | The family dog named "Bingo" knocked over the stroller and attacked the 8-week-old child. The dog was brought to an animal shelter. His assessment showed no signs of increased aggressiveness towards people and animals, he was not euthanized. The owners agreed to rehome the dog. [31] [32] [33] |
| November 2006 | <1 | Rottweiler | Lower Saxony, Cuxhaven, Samtgemeinde Land Hadeln | The dog of a family member opened the door to the room where the 4-month-old child was and attacked it. The dog was euthanized the same day. [34] | |
| July 24, 2006 | 92 | F | American Staffordshire Terrier | Saxony-Anhalt, Gross Rossau | The woman was bitten by the dog and succumbed to her injuries on the spot. The dog's owner was on vacation at the time of the incident. The dog sitter let the dog run around freely on the property where the woman lived. The reason for the attack is unclear. [35] [36] |
| December 31, 2005 January 6, 2006† | 69 | M | Unknown | Brandenburg | The man sustained a minor injury from a bite by his dog and died a few days later due to an infection with capnocytophaga canimorsus. [37] |
| December 1, 2004 | 36 | F | Pit Bull | Bremen | The victim was killed in her apartment by her dog. An arriving police officer killed the dog. [38] |
| December 2002 | 86 | F | Rottweiler | Brandenburg, Senzig | When the woman brought water to the dog named "Brando", she was bitten and died a little later from her injuries. The dog was euthanized. [39] [40] |
| November 2002 | <1 | M | Rottweiler | Saxony-Anhalt, Hobeck | The 6-week-old child was in the yard in its stroller and started crying. The family dog knocked the stroller over and killed the infant. The father shot the dog with a hunting rifle. [41] [42] |
| May 2, 2002 | 24 | M | Labrador mix | Baden-Wuerttemberg, Untergruppenbach | When a Jack Russell Terrier and a Labrador mix began fighting over a stick, the dog owner tried to protect the Jack Russell. The Labrador mix snapped and injured the man's carotid artery. The man panicked due to the profuse bleeding and ran away, leaving his companions unable to help him. He bled to death before the rescue workers arrived. [43] |
| March 28, 2002 | 6 | M | Rottweiler (2) | Rhineland-Palatinate, Zweibrücken | An adult woman and a boy were walking the dogs in the forest. When he fell, the unleashed female dog charged at him and bit. The male dog then got out of the collar and bit as well. The child died on the spot. [44] |
| August 8, 2001 | 11 | F | German Shepherd | Schleswig-Holstein, Lutzhorn | The girl was playing in the garden with the family dog when she was bitten several times and died. [45] |
| June 26, 2000 | 6 | M | Staffordshire Bull Terrier | Hamburg | See: Volkan Kaya Two dogs jumped into a schoolyard and attacked about ten children, leaving two injured and one dead. The dogs were shot dead by responding police and two people were arrested. [46] [47] Following this, another fatal dog attack earlier the same year, and a long series of serious injuries caused by fighting dogs, the German government enacted laws banning certain breeds, including penalties of up to 100,000 Deutsche Marks ($48,100 USD). [48] [49] |
| Pit Bull | |||||
| March 5, 2000 | 86 | F | Rottweiler | North Rhine-Westphalia, Gladbeck, Rentfort-Nord | The victim was taking out the trash when the dog attacked her. The dog bit into the pensioner's head and neck and severed her cervical spine. Neighbors rushed over and hit the animal with spades but couldn't save the injured woman. According to the public prosecutor's office, the daughter of a Rottweiler breeder was taking a walk with three Rottweilers who were not on a leash in the early hours of the morning. The dog named "Easy" disappeared for a while and returned to the nearby breeding grounds by herself. The dog had attacked and injured a child three years before the fatal attack. The Essen public prosecutor's office alleged negligent homicide. The 21-year-old was sentenced to ten months for negligent homicide (juvenile sentence to probation). [50] [51] [52] [53] |
| May 11, 1998 | 48 | F | Pit bull (2) | Brandenburg, Uckermark, Milow | She was in front of her house with her two dogs. When a 13-year-old girl cycled past the property, her dogs chased after the girl. When the owner tried to stop the dogs they turned on her and killed her. [54] |
Pit bull is an umbrella term for several types of dog believed to have descended from bull and terriers. In the United States, the term is usually considered to include the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and sometimes the American Bulldog, along with any crossbred dog that shares certain physical characteristics with these breeds. In other countries, including the United Kingdom, the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed specifically, while the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is not considered a pit bull. Most pit bull–type dogs descend from the British bull and terrier, a 19th-century dog-fighting type developed from crosses between the Old English Bulldog and the Old English Terrier.
The Great Dane is a German breed of large mastiff-sighthound, which descends from hunting dogs of the Middle Ages used to hunt bears, wild boar, and deer. They were also used as guardian dogs of German nobility. It is one of the two largest dog breeds in the world, along with the Irish Wolfhound.
The Rottweiler is a breed of domestic dog, regarded as medium-to-large or large. The dogs were known in German as Rottweiler Metzgerhund, meaning Rottweil butchers' dogs, because their main use was to herd livestock and pull carts laden with butchered meat to market. This continued until the mid-19th century when railways replaced droving. Although still used to herd stock in many parts of the world, Rottweilers are now also used as search and rescue dogs, guard dogs, and police dogs.
Rottweil is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years.
Sibylle Berg is a German-Swiss contemporary author and playwright. They write novels, essays, short fiction, plays, radio plays, and columns. And as of 2024 a member of the European Parliament. Their 17 books have been translated into 30 languages. They have won numerous awards, including the Thüringer Literaturpreis, the Bertolt-Brecht-Literaturpreis, and the Johann-Peter-Hebel-Preis. They have become an iconic figure in German alternative sub-cultures, gaining a large fan base among the LGBT community and the European artistic communities. They live in Switzerland and Israel. Their 2019 work GRM. Brainfuck, a science fiction novel set in a dystopian near future won the Swiss Book Prize and was noticed by The Washington Post, and reached fourth place on the Spiegel Bestseller list, with the sequel, RCE, entering the list as highest entry of the week at place 14. On 1 March 2023 Berg was invited as special guest to open the high-profile Elevate Festival in Graz.
A dog bite is a bite upon a person or other animal by a dog. More than one successive bite is often called a dog attack, although dog attacks can include knock-downs and scratches. Though some dog bites do not result in injury, they can result in infection, disfigurement, temporary or permanent disability, or death. Another type of dog bite is the "soft bite" displayed by well-trained dogs, by puppies, and in non-aggressive play. Dog bites can occur during dog fighting, as a response to mistreatment, by trained dogs working as guard, police or military animals, or during a random encounter.
The American Bully is a modern breed of dog that was developed as a companion dog, and originally standardized and recognized as a breed in 2004 by the American Bully Kennel Club (ABKC). Their published breed standard describes the dog as giving the "impression of great strength for its size". In 2008, the American Bully was recognized by the European Bully Kennel Club (EBKC), and on July 15, 2013, by the United Kennel Club (UKC). The UK Kennel Club, American Kennel Club, and International Canine Federation do not recognize the American Bully as a separate breed.
Fatal dog attacks in the United States cause the deaths of thirty to fifty people each year. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, there were 468 deaths in the United States from being bitten or struck by a dog between 2011 and 2021. This is an average of 43 deaths annually, ranging from a low of 31 deaths in 2016 and a high of 81 deaths in 2021. Dogs killed more males than females during the tracking decade. Children between the ages of one to four are most often the victims, accounting for 29.4% of the fatalities from dog attacks in 2022; those under the age of seventeen accounted for 56.7% of all fatalities that year.
Fatal dog attacks are human victim's deaths caused by dogs. The study of fatal dog attacks can lead to prevention techniques which can help to reduce all dog bite injuries, not only fatalities. Dog bites and attacks can result in pain, bruising, wounds, bleeding, soft tissue injury, broken bones, loss of limbs, scalping, disfigurement, life-threatening injuries, and death.
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Yolanda Klug was a German woman who disappeared on 25 September 2019 and whose disappearance had been linked to Scientology. A walker discovered her remains on February 25, 2023 in the forest area Rödel near Freyburg. The cause of death is currently unclear.
A Man and His Dog is a 1918 narrative by Thomas Mann. It describes the adventures of the narrator with his dog Bauschan (Bashan) in the nature surrounding the author's home in Munich. It was written in the twilight of World War I and portrays an idealised and timeless world.
Anne-Katrin Altwein was a German sculptor, graphic artist and author.
