Animal Bites and Blaming the Victim
Dan Onion, MD, MPH
Mt. Vernon/Vienna Health Officer
293-2076; dkonion@gmail.com
July, 2016
I just wrote about dog bites in the most recent June column, but several animal/human fatal encounters have made the national news recently and prompt this rumination.
Many years ago, while doctoring on Pohnpei, a large Western Pacific Micronesian island, I saw a man with bilateral Achilles tendon lacerations just above his heels. They were caused by a small (3 ft) black-tipped shark, which bit him in one heel as he was collecting shells to sell (for buttons) on a large reef in a foot and a half of water. He was with a friend, but their boat was ½ mile away across the reef. When the shark glommed onto his ankle the first time, it didn't let go, so he reached down and pulled it off. He then threw the shark as far away from himself as he could on one leg. But the fish then swam back and bit him on the other ankle, totally incapacitating him. Eventually his friend got the boat over to him and they got to shore and my emergency room. It took us all night to repair both the severed Achilles tendons. But the ER and OR staff, as well as several of his visiting friends, demurred compassion when they heard the story and said he should have known better than to throw the shark back the first time. They never explained how he could have held on to it with only one working leg.
The recent story of the California zoo gorilla, who seemed to be playing with a young boy who had fallen into the gorilla’s enclosure, has some similarities. The child wasn’t harmed but the gorilla was shot after swinging the kid through the water in a frightening way. The zoo was taken to task for shooting the gorilla, and, reasonably, for not building a more secure cage; and the mother was criticized for not watching the child more closely. I understand the public sorrow at the gorilla’s death but given the choice, how can one not support immediate action, as was done? The death at Disneyland of a 2-year old child, who was seized by an alligator, is an even more tragic story because the child died rather than the animal who attacked him.
Finally, the 7-year old boy in Maine killed by a pit bull was very disturbing, both because the dog had had previous misbehavior and because the press gave extensive coverage to a woman who was a self-proclaimed “dog counsellor”. Her contention was that people can frighten dogs into misbehaving and implied that this child did that.
I find these cases of blaming the victims of animal attacks, especially children, curious. Holding a 3 ft shark in one’s arms, 100s of yards out on a coral reef with only one working leg, sounds clearly impossible; the man tried to do what I probably would have done. Only in retrospect did it become clear it wouldn’t work. It is sad that the gorilla had to be shot but what other good choice did the zoo have for immediately getting the child away from him; surely the child’s life is the highest priority. And finally the pit bull. These are dangerous dogs and present a significant public health risk, as this outcome demonstrates. They are bred and often trained to kill other dogs. One badly injured my daughter’s small terrier in Brooklyn, NY while walking by each other on the sidewalk and both on leashes! Such dogs go for the jugular and trachea. They are like loaded guns walking around. They account for half the dog bites I’ve seen in the ER over the years. Blaming this victim directly or by implication is nonsense. To own a pit bull is crazy. Dogs such as these should be banned along with automatic weapons, which are also helping crazies kill more people than they otherwise would. I have hunted all my life, but not with such dogs or guns. Both are real threats to the public health. Gorillas and sharks are much less of a problem but we should sympathize with, not blame the victim.