Raleigh police respond to about 880 animal bite calls annually, data shows

After the tragic, deadly dog attacks last month in Garner and last night in Johnston County, we wanted to understand how often serious or fatal dog attacks are happening. But it turns out, nobody is quite sure because laws vary from state to state.

In North Carolina, victims of serious bites and the animals' owners are supposed to report them to the health department, but that doesn't always happen.

​According to Raleigh Police, which Animal Control is part of, nearly 3000 calls for service for animal bites have gone out in the city since 2018 -- that's an average of 880 each year. More than two-thirds of those were serious enough to result in incident reports.

Officer Ashley Staten with Animal Control spoke with WRAL by phone and says around 95% of the calls involve dog bites. Occasionally, they'll respond to calls for incidents with cats, ferrets or snakes, though. Staten says the majority of calls aren't serious,and that most people bitten are not the pet owners.

Animal Control responded to the most calls on Thursdays, according to the data which also shows us that the highest number of calls for bites come in between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon. April and May are the busiest months of the year for police to respond to these types of calls.

North Carolina law requires that serious bites be reported to the health department. Wake County says reports come from doctors, hospitals and the public and are tracked by location but not by breed of dog or severity of injuries.​

No statewide database of dog bites currently exists and it is not required by North Carolina law. WRAL has reached out to lawmakers to find out if more specific record-keeping laws should be put in place, including the breed of dog involved in an attack, and if breed-specific legislation, a controversial issue, is on the table at all.

"I believe that we should have a tracking system for bites especially those on children who are marred for life," wrote Rep. Donna McDowell White in an email to WRAL. "I also believe that there should be tracking of the breeds who cause these life threatening attacks that often lead to death of the child."

WRAL has reached out to other lawmakers to find out if more specific record-keeping laws should be put in place, including the breed of dog involved in an attack, and if breed-specific legislation, a controversial issue, is on the table at all.

Staten, with Animal Control, recommends dog owners take four steps to minimize the chance of aggression from dogs and harm to humans: