National Canine Research Council

Over the past 45 years (1965 – present) there have been 32 fatal dog attacks in Michigan, an average of one (1) fatal attack every 1 to 2 years.

At least thirteen (13) different breeds/types of dogs have been identified in connection with these incidents.*

* Note: Four (4) of the fatal attacks in Michigan were inflicted by Wolf dogs. This is noted due to the fact that Wolf dogs are not a domestic dog, and arguably should not be grouped alongside domestic dogs in statistics on fatal attacks without an acknowledgement to the wolf, ( i.e., “wild”) component of the animal’s make-up.

In 1999, this emaciated wolf-type-dog attacked and killed a 4-year-old Muskegon boy playing in a yard.

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Of the 32 fatal dog attacks in Michigan the victims were:  9 adults, 2 teenagers and 21 children.

A significant number of the fatal dog attacks in Michigan involved extreme negligence, abuse, recklessness or criminal behavior on the part of owners.

In 1983,   a 3-year-old boy wandered out, unsupervised, to where his parents kept 25 chained, breeding dogs. He was killed by a female dog with a litter of newborn puppies.

In 1988, a Detroit man commanded his dog to attack another man, while at the same time he kicked and stabbed his victim. The victim died from blunt force trauma (inflicted by the owner) and from dog bites (inflicted at owner’s command).

In 1989, in Imlay, a  mother left her one-day-old infant  on a trash heap, where he was then found and mauled by stray dogs.

In 1992, G. Trotter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after she exposed her 2-year-old nephew to  dogs which she kept in her basement and which had a known history of aggression.

In 2005, two dogs who had been abandoned in the basement of a vacated row house without food or water, escaped from their confinement and killed a girl in the alleyway nearby. During their imprisonment, in desperation, they  had consumed  paper, cardboard, rubber bands, rat poison . .  whatever they could find. At the time of the attack, both dogs were suffering from starvation, isolation, abandonment, and the effects of the rat poison. The media, incredibly, described these animals as “family dogs.”           NCRC FDA 2005 MI Wayne

In 2007, four dogs belonging  D. Cockrell escaped from her property and killed two of her neighbors.  Cockrell was sentenced to 43 months to 15 years after pleading no contest to  felony charges of owning dangerous animals causing death.  (Livingston County)

In 2007, a 4-month-old infant was killed by a dog in Macomb County:    NCRC FDA 2007 MI Macomb

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In spite of the abusive and dangerous ownership practices of some dog owners, dogs still pose an incredibly low risk for causing a fatality in Michigan:

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

In 2005, 48 Michigan children died as a result of maltreatment (abuse/neglect).

In a single year, 2005, more than twice as many Michigan children died from maltreatment than the total of all children killed by dogs in the state over the past 44 years.

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Fact is,  people in Michigan routinely accept far greater risks from ATVs, bicycles and swimming pools than any that are associated with companion animals.

National Canine Research Council