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The Bites Countywide as well as the Bites at OCAC show the same trend: More bites by <br />older dogs. (The only small difference is that bites in the youngest age bracket are somewhat <br />more common countywide, possibly because, unlike in OCAC, young children can be bitten in <br />the course of playing with puppies.) The shelter dog population, whether measured as <br />Intakes or as Adoptions plus Transfers, skews young, with diminishing numbers in the <br />upper age brackets. <br />Simply put, a small fraction of dogs going through the shelter accounts for a large <br />fraction of the bites. Any shift in that fraction will have a strong effect on the expected <br />number of bites. <br />To get the Bite Rate in the 2018-2022 period for a given age bracket, we compute the ratio of <br />the number of bites divided by the number of Adoptions and Transfers (expressed as a <br />percentage). Why? Because what we achieve at the shelter is Adoptions and Transfers, and <br />bites are an undesirable penalty we pay. We could have used Intakes as the reference, but <br />Intakes include a large number of Returned -to -Owner (RTO) dogs that are never handled by <br />adopters, volunteers, and even most staff. Therefore, it's misleading to include them in this <br />cost -benefit analysis. Still, the qualitative conclusion would be similar if we used Intakes. <br />Armed with this overall bite rate per age bracket, we can compare 2019 and 2022. For each <br />year, we count the Adoptions and Transfers by age bracket, and multiply by the bite rate in <br />each category; these are then added up in the Total column. We can compare the Expected <br />Bites (Total) for each year to the Actual number of bites. <br />Dog Bites based on 2018-2022 Statistics <br />Age Bracket in Years 0-2 2-4 4-7 7+ Unkn Total <br />Bites Countywide (Not Used) <br />1,194 <br />967 <br />1,782 <br />2,418 <br />0 <br />6,361 <br />Intakes (Not Used) <br />9,129 <br />4,670 <br />3,810 <br />4,459 <br />103 <br />22,171 <br />Outcome Adoption or Transfer <br />6,012 <br />2,560 <br />1,901 <br />1,737 <br />50 <br />12,260 <br />Bites at OCAC Address <br />Bite Rate per Adoption or Transfer <br />2019 Adoption or Transfer <br />8 <br />19 <br />37 <br />52 <br />0 <br />116 <br />0.13% <br />0.74% <br />1.95% <br />2.99% <br />0.00% <br />1,427 <br />737 <br />549 <br />444 <br />10 <br />3,167 <br />2019 Expected Bites <br />1.9 <br />5.5 <br />10.7 <br />13.3 <br />0.0 <br />31.3 <br />2019 Actual Bites <br />34 <br />2022 Adoption or Transfer <br />1,383 <br />460 <br />297 <br />300 <br />16 2,456 <br />2022 Expected Bites <br />2022 Actual Bites <br />1.8 <br />3.4 <br />5.8 <br />9.0 <br />0.0 20.0 <br />19 <br />Bites - Page 4 of 8 <br />