Domestic Cats Not on the List of Deadliest Killers

Domestic Cats Not on the List of Deadliest Killers



For knowledgeable cat guardians, this is hardly news but it is nice to read about it because it reinforces what we know and understand and what the cat haters don't want to realise, namely that, the domestic cat is not a killer of people by spreading disease such as toxoplasmosis or killing people with bites and scratches, passing on bacterial infections etc..

The domestic cat does not feature on this list of the world's deadliest killers of people. Yet the domestic dog which I feel is hated less than the domestic cat, kills 25,000 people annually, which is 25 times more lethal than the crocodile. We should not, though, blame the domestic dog for this high tally.

The blame is with people because it is people who put large and potentially dangerous dogs in homes with themselves and often with young children. I'm sure that a lot of the fatalities concern children. I certainly know that that is the case in the UK. Dogs are not able to kill fit adult men they are able to kill, quite easily, unsupervised children and sometimes elderly adults.

I would like to briefly to mention the mountain lion, which is hunted, legally with restrictions in some states of the USA, with dogs and rifles. I am one of those people who detest sport hunting and there is quite a lot of hype surrounding the mountain lion and its danger to people. The mountain lion is quite a shy but large wild cat species which, incidentally, has a meow like a domestic cat.

As I recall, the mountain lion has killed about 18 people in the last hundred years in America and as in recent times there have been no lethal attacks by the mountain lion on humans it does not feature on the list of the deadliest killers. I just wish to emphasise that. The mountain lion can be seen off using certain techniques if it approaches or is forced to wander around urban areas that had been built on its natural range. It does not need to be shoot out of hand willy nilly.

Although totally predictable, we have to mention homo sapiens who is second on the list. To be honest, I am surprised that humankind is second as I would have thought humans would be in first place. Finally, can someone tell me how the freshwater snail kills people? I will have to presume that it poisons people when it is eaten!