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Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by cameronfraser on Friday May 29, 2020 @01:26PM (#23352823)
Poor sharks, they get one of the worst raps for how little damage they do to humans. I'm surprised to see dogs so high up on that list.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by Cactus2018 on Friday May 29, 2020 @06:05PM (#23356092)
Gruesome wikipedia page with detailed Circumstances

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_t...

The pattern appears to be, very young child, or older adult, attacked by either a pitbull or pack of dogs.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Friday May 29, 2020 @08:46PM (#23357396)
Someone always pops up to save "pitbulls have a bad rep" but they also account for > 80% of all bites and deaths by dog.

That's not an accident.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by teruakohatu on Friday May 29, 2020 @08:52PM (#23357426)
I used to belive that, but I have since come to believe that the explanatory variable in vicious dog attacks are the type of owners, and the breeders who supply those owners, not dog breed. If you banned pitbulls they would just switch to buying and abusing alsatians.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by EL_Loco on Friday May 29, 2020 @09:21PM (#23357575)
I've been around many alsatians, and many pitbulls (never had one, but many friends have). Given equal training, equal education (or whatever you want to call what some people do to their dogs), most pitbulls will be different from alsatians in temperament. When they are in attack mode, they're much more likely to not let go, and to bite much harder. There's a spectrum among breeds regarding the agressiveness of their attacks, and that's something you can't argue, I think. You can abuse the hell out of Yorkshire Terriers, they just won't be as dangerous as pitbulls.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by rainbowzootsuit on Friday May 29, 2020 @10:36PM (#23357972)
I was once in a hand to hand struggle with a pit bull that attacked another smaller dog. At least three bystanders took part simultaneously in kicking and punching the pit bull to get it to release the smaller dog.

The only way to dissuade the pit, after what was at least a couple of minutes of this and with the smaller dog being disemboweled, was that I stabbed the pit bull in the neck with my pocket knife.

Their physical power and stubbornness should not be taken for granted.

Both dogs survived the incident.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by dota_fanatic on Friday May 29, 2020 @11:06PM (#23358122)
No respected dog behaviorist would ever advise kicking, punching, or stabbing to break up a dog fight regardless of breed. Y’all made it worse.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by rainbowzootsuit on Saturday May 30, 2020 @12:31AM (#23358491)
We decidedly did not make it worse.

The smaller ~20lbs dog was being courageously held onto by its owner underneath both dogs for the entire ~fight~ mauling to prevent it from being taken away and killed by the ~100lbs pit bull. I didn't see in that situation that I had time to consult with a respected behaviorist and get into the dog's upbringing, give it some positive reinforcement, tummy rubs, and treats, but I did finally get its attention.

Stabbing the pit bull ended the attack within seconds. My intent was to kill it at that point, but I was unsuccessful. That is my only regret in the situation.

Another bystander took the small dog and its owner to the pet hospital in her car where emergency surgery saved its life.

I'm not sure the eventual fate of the pit bull but I know that it was turned over to the custody of the local SPCA and the owner was given some type of citation.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by dota_fanatic on Saturday May 30, 2020 @09:33AM (#23361054)
Interesting that you and other comments took mine to mean how to train a dog, which is irrelevant to the situation under consideration. Did any of y'all mean that in good faith?

No, it's about how to de-escalate a severe situation without loss of life. (Good) policemen don't break up a fight between an 18 yr old and 10 yr old by viciously beating and then stabbing the 18 yr old. My point was only that the instincts of those involved made the situation worse before it was made better. And based on the new facts, starting with the owner.

Just as with humans, there's a well understood hierarchy of severity of tools for handling situations such as that one, though only a small minority of dog owners know them. It's incredibly unfortunate that dog lives are more or less toys for humans to play with, otherwise this fight is likely to never have happened if it was a severe as you say before it turned into a five animal brawl.

Bottom line the three of you DID make it worse before it was made better. The punching and kicking won't help in all probability. It's simply not on the spectrum of effective tools. Killing is on the far end, so I'm not begrudging your actions, I'm begrudging the behavior before it: yelling (probably), kicking, and punching instead of forcing the bite, wheelbarrowing, and other environmental tools that may have been available. Y'know, the things that animal behaviorists have figured out, how to cause specific behaviors, like stopping a dog from biting another during a fight.

I'm not sure why I wrote this comment since apparently your only regret is not achieving your intent which was to kill the dog. You managed to stop the fight without causing death, a huge win, but you wish otherwise. I sincerely hope your future is brighter than your past.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by EL_Loco on Saturday May 30, 2020 @08:20PM (#23366059)
> between an 18 yr old and 10 yr old

Nope, this was more like a 10 year old being savagely beaten by a 30 year old very strong, very violent, out of his mind MMA fighter who wanted to kill the 10 year old.

What you're saying makes sense for some breeds. The whole point was that pitbulls are more agressive and violent than other breeds.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by rainbowzootsuit on Saturday May 30, 2020 @09:42AM (#23361126)
I did the wheelbarrowing thing from the start. That only took leverage off of the small dog to try to give the other people who enough time to try to dissuade the pit bull, but as I said, nothing distracted it from its purpose until I stabbed it. It was obvious when I was able to see the intestines of the small dog exposed that it was going to not last long and my resolve was to try to kill the aggressor if one was going to die for sure at that point.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by dota_fanatic on Monday June 01, 2020 @12:24PM (#23380269)
We seem to be talking past each other as at this point I suspect we're in agreement. My initial claim was that punching, kicking, and stabbing were ineffective at breaking up dog fights and make them worse. I back-pedaled slightly to say that stabbing (lethal actions) is effective if it's a scenario where non-lethal tools prove ineffective.

My biggest issue from the start was the socialization of "three bystanders took part simultaneously in kicking and punching the pit bull to get it to release," which failed, predictably, and I didn't want anyone to think that that was a good thing to try in the first place.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by rainbowzootsuit on Monday June 08, 2020 @12:58PM (#23458314)
Yes I agree about us having some difficulty in properly communicating what's going on. It was a very dynamic situation. It was just a bunch of passers by jumping in to help in whatever way they were able or thought appropriate at the moment.

I don't know what would have been, so to speak, appropriate and would have been effective. The one thing I knew to try was to do the wheelbarrow and that did nothing at leas in attitude of the pit bull. I was totally focused on my not being excessively injured or letting the other dog be torn apart and didn't organize anyone else's interaction, like "I'll hold the legs and you kick it."

If anything it was the opposite of bystander syndrome where everyone thinks someone else will do whatever is needed. Everyone there was doing whatever they could with the tools and knowledge or lack of knowledge that they had.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Saturday May 30, 2020 @05:27PM (#23364902)
> your only regret is not achieving your intent which was to kill the dog

You cannot ever know what his intentions were, and to accuse him of that is pretty disgusting.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by dota_fanatic on Monday June 01, 2020 @11:36AM (#23379668)
Except for when someone states their intent?

> "My intent was to kill it at that point, but I was unsuccessful. That is my only regret in the situation."

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Sunday June 07, 2020 @05:34PM (#23451055)
Their intent was to stop a dog from killing another dog, you are discussing the method of doing so as if it was the only stated goal. "I just wanted to kill a pitbull doing nothing minding it's own business".

Why do you think such a terrible leap of logic would work here?

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by Justin_K on Saturday May 30, 2020 @01:01PM (#23362598)
Dog behaviorist? Are you fing kidding me? Why do people on this site post this kind of crap?
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Saturday May 30, 2020 @04:57PM (#23364653)
Elitist mentality and condescending language common in tech, sadly.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by EL_Loco on Saturday May 30, 2020 @06:36AM (#23360113)
Well, he wasn't a dog behaviorist, and he's not required to know how to adequately deal with vicious dogs trying to tear apart little ones. Stabbing the pitbull saved the other dog's life.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Saturday May 30, 2020 @04:18AM (#23359451)
I believe he was trying to stop the Pit from killing another dog, not train it to be better.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by lopmotr on Saturday May 30, 2020 @12:29AM (#23358478)
Why did you change your belief? I've heard both beliefs too but never seen evidence for the blame-the-owner one so I'm never sure.

I hope your logic is not: "I can imagine how A might cause X, therefore I believe B cannot possibly cause X." Easy way for people too fool themselves into believing unsupported ideas.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Saturday May 30, 2020 @04:17AM (#23359448)
There are a lot of bad pit bull owners that abuse their dogs and make them aggressive.

Pit bulls are stronger and more capable of injuring or killing a human than most other breeds.

Both can be true. But if you want the "bad owner" theory to explain why 80% of all fatalities are pit-related , you are essentially calling at 80% percent (or higher) of owners dangerously negligent.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by whynaut on Saturday May 30, 2020 @11:12AM (#23361714)
That’s a big strawman, percentages would only be true if every owner’s dog killed someone.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Saturday May 30, 2020 @05:26PM (#23364885)
The numbers don't relate perfectly, but the point stands. By failing to address what i'm actually saying, it's your straw-man of "the math doesn't work" that is distracting the conversation.

Bad pit owners exist. Pits have a dangerous combination of mentality and strength. You can use a gun as a can opener if you want to, that doesn't change the ability it has to remove a life.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by michaelmrose on Saturday May 30, 2020 @09:07PM (#23366322)
Your logic is thus

1. 80% of fatal dog attacks are by pit bulls.

This is complete nonsense from dogsbite.org actually nobody tracks this. This "statistic" is at best comprised by trying to compile news articles that notoriously misidentify any large breed mutt responsible for attacks as pit bulls.

2. If 80% of fatal are attacks are caused by pit bulls and negligent owners were the cause of attacks then 80% of owners must be negligent.

3. 80% of owners being negligent is an absurd conclusion thus the conclusion that bites are largely caused by negligent owners must be false.

Premise 2 is the result of what I like to call number gluing. To explicate people have 2 entities which they can attach a numerical identity to that seem related so people just mentally stick them together instead of doing the mathematical reasoning to figure out how the 2 relate. It's not that they don't "exactly" relate how you said they do they don't relate AT ALL. With no other numbers its entirely impossible to reason about which portion of owners are negligent or even how their average negligence relates to owners of say rottweilers and dobermans. There are 3.6 million pit bulls in the US and 40 people are killed annually. Even if every fatality was caused by a pit bull we could conclude from that fact that 1 in a million pit bull owners are negligent. The prior poster wasn't distracting from your argument he demolished it like a bulldozer.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Sunday June 07, 2020 @05:48PM (#23451168)
1. The statistics are 80% pits and pit breed derivatives. You are welcome to argue against facts and statistics but I wont be joining you.

2. Shifting all the blame onto owners is ignoring the clear trend. If 100% of gun owners were safe and responsible, there would still be gun deaths because of the capacity of a gun to kill someone. Same with Pits.

3. I agree but that's your logic, not mine.

You are also shifting focus from Pits attacking other dogs (the point of this thread) to attacking people. Fine, they account for most dog attacks on other dogs and on people. You seem to have your own justifications for why that is, and why it's ok, but those only work on you. Because you want to believe your Pitbull is an angel from heaven and not a well trained, but inherently dangerous animal.

https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities-2020...

Entry after entry is pitbull.

"Pictured are the two most deadly dog breeds in America: pit bull terriers and rottweilers. Research from DogsBite.org shows that during the 14-year period from 2005 to 2018, canines killed 471 Americans. Pit bulls and rottweilers accounted for 76% (358) of these deaths."

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by michaelmrose on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:46PM (#23452119)
For your consideration Breed Specific Legislation doesn't work while strategies that focus on other factors does.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/10/25/bsl-and-dog-bites/

> Restricting breed ownership has not reduced the incidence of dog bites. A survey of reported dog bite rates in 36 Canadian municipalities found no difference between jurisdictions with BSL and those without. Likewise, a 2010 Toronto Humane Society survey found no change in dog bites in Ontario in the years before and after Ontario’s BSL.

> Calgary, however, saw a five-fold reduction over 20 years – from 10 bites per 10,000 people in 1986 to two in 2006. Rather than banning breeds, Calgary uses strong licensing and enforcement plus dog safety public education campaigns.

It would be great if you stopped promoting strategies that don't work and started promoting ones that do.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by michaelmrose on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:32PM (#23452032)
Dogsbite is a worthless source. You yourself aren't being consistent in your arguments. First it was pit bulls were responsible for 80% of fatalities and now its pits and rottweilers are responsible for 76. Would you like to settle on "big dogs are the ones that normally manage to kill people" and include 2 or 3 more large breeds?

Looking at the link it relies on news paper stories to report that the death happened and then uses the reporters words to correctly identify the breed even though this may actually result in pit bulls being over counted and some fatalities being missed. In fact if you peruse the source its sufficient for an attack to be pit bull related for any given source to refer to the dogs as pit bulls. So if a dozen sources report on the matter and one misidentifies the culprit as a pit bull pit bull kill it is. As an example I found in the first dozen cases a "pit bull kill" wherein nobody saw the person get killed but a neighbor testified that there were problematic dogs in the neighborhood which the neighbor says are pit bulls. I found another which was a literal homicide in which the murderers dog attacked the victim while he was murdering them. It's hard to justify digging through 400 some cases when 1/6th of the first 12 are obviously complete nonsense and the rest are of unknown quality without extensive research not composed of finding newspaper articles and grepping for the word pit in any article about a particular incident.

The citations show the article title but not a url to the actual source making identifying just how bad the source in unnecessarily cumbersome but anyone that spends more than 5 minutes studying it ought to come to the conclusion that dogsbite.org is shockingly not even trying to do an unbiased analysis. It's a hit piece serving the interests of a lobbying group of dog haters who in many cases want to steal people's family pets and kill them to address a problem that kills about the same number of people annually as drowning in bath tubs.

Usually only having one biased source of truth is an indication that you are hanging out with the flat earth society. I invite you to join the rest of us on the round earth.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Monday June 08, 2020 @08:44PM (#23462427)
> Would you like to settle on "big dogs are the ones that normally manage to kill people" and include 2 or 3 more large breeds?

Sure, doesn't detract from my point at all. Nitpicking numbers is not a good use of anyone's time.

Your entire argument seems to rely solely on attacking the source. Everything I google turns up similar numbers

https://www.caninejournal.com/dog-bite-statistics/ https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-studies.php

If you are going to grab your tin foil hat and claim an internet-wide conspiracy against your dog of choice, fine. I don't see any reason to participate.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by whynaut on Sunday May 31, 2020 @03:22AM (#23367867)
We know they exist. The point of the conversation is how prevalent they are (what you’re inflating), and how much of the behavior is attributable to the dog’s nature (in my opinion, near none; pit bulls are naturally sweet and playful).
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by seppin on Sunday June 07, 2020 @05:53PM (#23451212)
Their "nature" is to hunt and kill things. They have the size and ferocity other breeds don't have. The fact that you have trained yours to pose for cute photos and play with your kids is the weird thing here.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by whynaut on Thursday June 11, 2020 @06:03PM (#23493766)
That is not a nature unlike any other dog. Nor are pit bulls the biggest or most ferocious, not even close. Even a cursory glance at dog breeds reveals much bigger threats.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by bsanr2 on Friday May 29, 2020 @08:36PM (#23357318)
*neglected/abused dogs of various breeds

Many dogs involved in attacks are erroneously typed as pitbulls (which is, in fact, a designation encompassing at least 3 different distinct breeds); genetic testing later reveals that they were not. Pitbulls are the "Moors" of dog breeds.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109002331... https://dogbitesohio.com/are-pit-bulls-unfairly-being-design...

Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding pitbulls is influenced by shaky notions of racial and behavioral genetics that mirror eugenics and its progeny.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/08/racism-and-the-americ...

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by jl6 on Friday May 29, 2020 @02:35PM (#23353790)
I suspect dogs aren’t particularly deadly, it’s just that there are so many of them and they collectively spend so much time near humans. Sharks on the other hand almost never interact with humans.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by thrwaway69 on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:50PM (#23355962)
I am not sure about that. In developing countries, rabies kill a lot of people. They might not directly kill people as much but their bites sure do.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/health/2020/jan/1...

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by csours on Friday May 29, 2020 @03:53PM (#23354722)
The only reason housecats aren't at the top of the list is that they are so small.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by RcouF1uZ4gsC on Friday May 29, 2020 @08:02PM (#23357092)
Whenever I talk to people that think it would be cool to have a pet tiger, I tell that to imagine what a pet cat can do to a person. Now imagine if it was 500 pounds. And this is with an animal that has been domesticated for thousands of years.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by gpderetta on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:45PM (#23355930)
Or they cover their tracks very well!
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by chubot on Friday May 29, 2020 @02:36PM (#23353813)
There Are No Such Thing As Shark Attacks

https://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=03214697...

I actually saw this standup bit recently and after Googling, it looks like it was borrowed ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLwYkZUNvKo&feature=youtu.be...

To clarify, it's actually the other way around, the standup came BEFORE the blog. Should have realized the upload date is not the performance date.

https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/3722/shark-atta...

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by aclsid on Friday May 29, 2020 @02:22PM (#23353619)
Well, think about it. A mosquito bite seems harmless, while getting torn to pieces by a shark, in a medium where you cannot even run it is scary as hell.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by twothamendment on Friday May 29, 2020 @06:50PM (#23356518)
Yeah, I'd rather have a neighbor with a shark than a neighbor with a dog.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by chrisco255 on Friday May 29, 2020 @07:46PM (#23356973)
A neighbor with a shark is clearly a super villain.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by thaumasiotes on Saturday May 30, 2020 @06:33AM (#23360084)
> Poor sharks, they get one of the worst raps for how little damage they do to humans.

Sharks can't do very much damage to humans because, in the natural course of events, it is impossible for a shark and a human to meet.

But sharks are quite dangerous conditioned on the fact that you're encountering one.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by tomohawk on Friday May 29, 2020 @06:59PM (#23356590)
The dog attacks are really more about dogs that have rabies.

In countries that have good rabies control this is not an issue. For example, the US has 30 - 50 deaths due to dogs each year.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by barkingcat on Friday May 29, 2020 @07:25PM (#23356786)
North American and Western European audiences don't realise that while 1 dog can only sometimes hurt you, a pack of 8-10 non-rabid dogs can hunt an adult human down and kill them easily.

In countries around the world, it's more about packs of wild dogs and rabies, instead of just rabies alone.

Countries/Regions that have wild dog pack problems: India, Some Eastern European countries, South East Asia (almost all people who grew up in South Eastern Asia would have a childhood story of being followed home by a pack of dogs. They are quiet at the beginning, they follow you, and if no one else is home when you get there, LOCK THE DOOR and God protect you), some parts of Australia.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by gen220 on Friday May 29, 2020 @09:24PM (#23357595)
My father grew up in rural India, has zero faith in dogs, and always carries a wooden cane on his daily walks to this day.

Growing up, I was ashamed that my dad was so scared of dogs, but the dogs he grew up around were incredibly violent and unpredictable compared to the domestics we’re so accustomed to here in the States. I think he and his brothers raised a puppy they found in the village, and it bit him pretty terribly when it grew up, so he has zero trust for animals. And he’s the most rational man I know, so it was weird to see him carry this memory so strongly into his 50s and 60s.

I don’t think he’s ever used it before (he lives in the Bay Area), but he’ll literally turn back from 5 blocks away if he realizes he’s forgotten it. I guess I’m trying to say: these kinds of environments are really traumatizing, and you should totally believe what the parent is saying. It’s a different world out there.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by brigandish on Friday May 29, 2020 @07:42PM (#23356947)
I had to regularly face down packs of wild dogs in India, probably the scariest thing I’ll do in my life. A trick my friend showed me in Greece (this was after India and wouldn’t have applied) was if you see a group of dogs at a distance and they seem threatening or interested, then bend down and pretend to pick up stone and they’ll back off.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by quicklime on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:14PM (#23355639)
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by saghm on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:34PM (#23355819)
I was expecting this one before I clicked: https://xkcd.com/1252/
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by JoeAltmaier on Friday May 29, 2020 @03:33PM (#23354513)
I'm thinking, that data is more of a heat-map of interactions. Any human interaction with a shark in its environment, shark wins. So as a per-capita, they might be near 100%?
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by jayrot on Friday May 29, 2020 @06:48PM (#23356510)
I know it's not the point you were trying to make but

> Any human interaction with a shark in its environment, shark wins.

this is straight-up wrong. Humans and sharks interact all. the. time. They're not killing machines.

I imagine you probably know that, so I'm not trying to patronize you (honestly). But this is really important.

SHARKS KILLED 4 HUMANS IN 2018. HUMANS KILLED 100 MILLION SHARKS IN 2018.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/28/shark-a...

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by kbutler on Friday May 29, 2020 @08:29PM (#23357268)
So what you're saying is, "yes, they are killing machines", with "they" being "the humans."
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by JoeAltmaier on Sunday May 31, 2020 @06:44PM (#23373605)
Well, not by swimming with them.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by jacobr1 on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:16PM (#23354976)
I'm not sure. Plenty of people swim in waters where sharks are regularly observed. And still the attacks are low. And further, with many attacks, I think in particular great-whites, they back off after the first bite, which allows for much greater survivability. So the ratio of "shark contact" to "sharks win" is probably low. And if you also add in fishing for sharks (such as for fins) humans probably kill a lot more sharks than the other way around.
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by JoeAltmaier on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:45PM (#23355312)
Hm. Not convinced. Contact with sharks vs contact with mosquitoes, or with dogs, or anything else on that list?

Most people spend maybe hours a year in shark ecosystem. Vs 365 days a year in dog country, or mosquito etc.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by sosborn on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:46PM (#23355934)
> Contact with sharks vs contact with mosquitoes, or with dogs, or anything else on that list?

Swimming with reef sharks vs taking a hike in a malaria infested jungle? Swimming with reef sharks please.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by tempestn on Friday May 29, 2020 @04:59PM (#23355492)
Certainly the amount of contact plays a roll. That's why dogs are so much higher than wolves for instance. But it's also true that most of the time people spend swimming around sharks, they don't get bitten. How the ratio of attacks to contacts compares between sharks and dogs or other animals I don't know; agreed that would be somewhat interesting!
Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by mynameisvlad on Friday May 29, 2020 @07:09PM (#23356662)
I've dived with sharks for years now. Most of them are some of the gentlest, shiest creatures in the water. In years of these interactions, neither I nor the shark won because literally nothing happened. They just run away from you if you get too close.

Most sharks will run away from the human as the human and their bubbles look far bigger than they are. They are more intimidated by us than we are by them.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by agumonkey on Friday May 29, 2020 @05:18PM (#23355681)
That's just like flight safety records.. the issue with sharks is that when something happens you're 99% about to lose a limb or life.

You run into mosquitoes 30k times a year, one of them may kill you, and most of the time you could have saved yourself on your own.

Re:Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) by jayrot on Friday May 29, 2020 @06:54PM (#23356547)
Uhh, maybe? Shark attacks are quite rare, but I think you might be underestimating how many bites just result in stitches. Talking about "shark attacks" here. Not "Great White shark attacks". Likewise you're certainly underestimating how many airplane "accidents" don't result in any injury (again, not talking about "commercial airline accidents").