Dog bites in Australian children.

Abstract

TO THE EDITOR: Kimble and colleagues have implied that the main strategic intervention to reduce the risk of dog bites is the education of dogs, owners and children,1 which is the equivalent of claiming that the most important way to prevent road accidents is for people to drive more carefully. There is no good evidence that education-only approaches reduce the risk of dog bites.2 In dog control, as in road-accident control, the most promising way forward is environmental modification rather than behavioural modification.3 Desexing dogs is an environmental measure to reduce dog attacks,4 which also has a range of health and welfare benefits for dogs and their owners. There is further evidence that dogs that kill people are more likely to not have been desexed.5 Measures that encourage desexing of dogs (and responsible breeding) along with supportive education is required in Australia to reduce the risk of dog attacks. Community education is to be encouraged, but not as a sole remedy for this very addressable hazard.