Correspondence - #52 - Laserfiche WebLink

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For 2019, 31.3 bites were expected, 34 occurred. For 2022, 20.0 bites were expected, 19 occurred. The Actual fell within a stone's throw of the Expected. That is to say, the change in the number of dogs by age bracket largely explains the change in the number of bites. The chart "Vanishing Bite Difference" tracks how, with honest counting and a bit of common sense, the false and misleading claim of 43 bites (as the difference between 2019 and 2022, in the OCCR slide) shrinks to 15 (actual dog bite difference), 6.5 (adjusted just for dog intakes), and finally 3.7 adjusted for the change in age distribution. Is it surprising that the pandemic -era policies (which entail reduced dog -human contact) don't lead to substantially fewer bites? Less contact isn't the only consequence of the policies followed in the 2020-2022 period. The restrictions caused additional stress to dogs and longer stays. So the reduction in handling may have caused a reduction in the bite rate - which was then largely offset by the increase in stress and the longer stays. Suspending playgroups for large dogs may have avoided bites in the play sessions, but it may have caused additional bites during regular handling because the dogs are more stressed. Suppose the continuation of pandemic -era restrictive adoption procedures reduces bites per day, but the dogs stay twice as long. Then the longer stay presents more occasions for bites, and the added stress puts more dogs at risk of biting. Were OCAC/OCCR unaware of the fact that the incoming and outgoing populations of dogs were different in 2022 vs 2019, both in total numbers and in age distribution? Did they not care to look at how this might be influencing bites? Perhaps these questions are too difficult for organizations that didn't want to report the correct number of bites in the first place. The blindness to the data, intentional or not, also led to failure to recognize an obvious measure to reduce bites: Focus on behavior issues for dogs age 4 and up, because that 30% of dogs account for 75% of the bites in the 2018-2022 period. Just the additional staff and volunteer awareness of the issue would have helped. Vanishing Bite Difference 2019 to 2022 OCCR FALSE CLAIM justifying dog policies 43 ACTUAL dog bite difference 15 Adjusted 6.5 for lower intakes Adjusted F3.7 for younger dogs 0 10 20 30 40 50 Bites - Page 5 of 8