Letter writer: Pondering dogs, lightning and statistics

Graphic by Lori Deaton

In reference to Chris Tarantino’s [letter], “Give ‘Bully Breeds’ a Chance” [Sept. 9, Xpress]:

Mr. Tarantino states that you are five times more likely to be killed by lightning than killed by a dog. I went looking for these statistics and was also interested in how many people visit emergency rooms due to dog bites. This is what I found and where I found it.

The odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about one in 1 million.  Lightning kills about 33 people a year in the U.S. (http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/odds.shtml).

The odds of you going to the ER in a given year for a dog bite is about one in 1,000.  Dogs kill about 33 people a year in the U.S. Pit bulls and Rottweilers account for about 75 percent of these deaths (http://www.dogsbite.org/).

So you are about as likely to be killed by lightning as killed by a dog. You are 1,000 times more likely to be bitten by a dog, requiring an ER visit, as being hit by lightning.

The odds of winning the Powerball lottery is about one in 175 million (http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/powerball_how-to-play.aspx)

— Tom Gallo
Asheville

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One thought on “Letter writer: Pondering dogs, lightning and statistics

  1. Most people have the common sense to retreat from a lightning storm because they are aware of the danger. With people being told that the pit bull is a nanny dog, why wouldn’t they have one as a pet or associate with them? Because it is a lie. It’s like me telling you that lightning isn’t dangerous and handing you a lightning rod to go play with during a storm. Unpredictable, both lightning and pit bulls. Pits are mauling and killing like no other breed in history. They are killing their owners like no other breed in history. You run from lightning, you run from a pit bull. Use your common sense, lightning kills, so does a breed of canine bred specifically and selectively for one thing – to kill.

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