The Rights of Dog Bite Victims

Every year, man’s best friend bites or attacks nearly five million people. Of those five million people, more than half are children. A large, and growing, number of experts feel that public education can prevent and reduce the occurrence of dog bites.

Every year, the third full week of May is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. This is a week of awareness activities that is coordinated by the American Veterinary Medical Association, United States Postal Service, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The goal of the week is to educate people in an effort to reduce the number of dog bite victims seen in hospitals across the country each year.

As previously stated, a majority of dog bite victims are children under the age of fourteen. This is because children are small and generally have less experience with animals than adults do. This inexperience makes children vulnerable as they don’t know the warning signs of an upset dog that is ready to attack.

National Dog Bite Prevention Week provides an opportunity for animal care and control agencies, post offices, physicians, educators, veterinarians, humane societies, dog trainers, and others to address the significant and largely preventable public health problem that dog bites pose. This public health problem is preventable because the majority of dog bite incidents could have been prevented through responsible pet ownership.

If you have been attacked by a dog or other animal and sustained injuries, please contact the Madison animal injury lawyers of Habush, Habush, & Rottier at 1-800-822-1690 to discuss your situation and to determine your legal options.