# How Common Are Fatal Wild Animal-On-Human Attacks In (Western) Europe? Japan? Australia/NZ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242 "2024-04-13T20:36:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/61 "2024-04-19T17:52:59Z")
Where? ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/62 "2024-04-19T18:49:07Z")
I watch a lot of nature documentaries. For all of the hype and awareness over deadly toxic animals like cone snails and blue ring octopi, I was expecting genuine waves of fatalities to match their dread reputations. Looking them up, about as rare and random as winning lotto. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/63 "2024-04-19T19:32:34Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > Sharks kill 1 or 2 a year at best and Crocs are only in the far north and if you go in the water where crocs are, yes you deserve your Darwin Award. But indeed Australia is the most dangerous place for shark attacks- _Where are the most fatal shark attacks in the world?_ _Australia_ _Australia endured a disproportionate number of shark bite fatalities, accounting for 22% of all attacks and four deaths, 40%, three of which occurred in one remote surfing destination off the Southern coast. The Bahamas, Egypt, Mexico and New Caledonia also reported fatal shark attacks._ > **[The U.S. Was Shark Bite Central Last Year — Here Are The States Where Most...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/02/05/the-us-was-shark-bite-central-last-year---here-are-the-states-where-most-attacks-happened/?sh=16c111f82778)** > > The U.S. has had more unprovoked shark bites than any other country, with beaches in one Florida county claiming more attacks than any other region. But still, that really not that many. The Box Jelly kills about one Australian a year, maybe less. Setting aside insects etc, wild animals really arent that dangerous anywhere. > [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I watch a lot of nature documentaries. For all of the hype and awareness over deadly toxic animals like cone snails and blue ring octopi, I was expecting genuine waves of fatalities to match their dread reputations. Looking them up, about as rare and random as winning lotto. Yep. _Octopuses_, however. 😀 Insects are the most dangerous with Mosquitos killing around 700,000 per year. But reptiles, fish-like creatures, mammals, etc- really not that dangerous in the big scheme of things, and in most cases, some caution would make you nearly 100% safe. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/64 "2024-04-19T20:15:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Insects are the most dangerous with Mosquitos killing around 700,000 per year. Dangerous? While true to an extent, mosquitoes are not the _direct_ cause of those deaths - it’s the little parasitic microbes doing the heavy-lifting there. More people survive mosquito bites than do not. > [@DrDeth](#): > > But reptiles, fish-like creatures, mammals, etc- really not that dangerous in the big scheme of things, and in most cases, some caution would make you nearly 100% safe. C’mon, man! You are taking all the fun out of this thread! Do you not want the rest of the world to know all 300M Americans and a few Canadians are living in fear and are in mortal danger of grizzly attack at any moment!! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/65 "2024-04-19T20:17:57Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > C’mon, man! You are taking all the fun out of this thread! Do you not want the rest of the world to know all 300M Americans and a few Canadians are living in fear and are in mortal danger of grizzly attack at any moment!! Mea culpa, I guess I am a party pooper here. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/66 "2024-04-20T00:33:17Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Last year saw a larger than normal number of fatalities from bear attacks on people. There were six deaths and over two hundred attacks. > [@Toxylon](#): > > Where? Ooops. It was supposed to say in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/67 "2024-04-20T00:40:27Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > C’mon, man! You are taking all the fun out of this thread! Do you not want the rest of the world to know all 300M Americans and a few Canadians are living in fear and are in mortal danger of grizzly attack at any moment!! While I appreciate the humor, there is value in knowing that poisonous snakes kill more people in the US than all non-human mammal attacks put together, by a factor of 6 or more. Sharks have killed 10 people in the US over the past 9 years or so which is still much less than snakes. Our international audience should be made aware that the documentary _Sharknado_ exaggerated the risks to non-swimmers to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/68 "2024-04-20T00:46:18Z")
I just wanted to poke my head in to say that mountain lion (puma, cougar, all same cat) attacks on humans are so rare that only 125 have ever been recorded (records kept since 1890) of which 27 were fatal. Generally speaking humans vastly, even hysterically, overestimate how dangerous large wild animals are. You know what’s dangerous? Cows. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/69 "2024-04-20T02:52:45Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > When I was quite young my family took a holiday on a secluded island (it wasn’t as posh or as special as it sounds.) I went snorkelling off the beach, and as I looked to one side of me, and two large stingrays lifted off the sandy bottom a few metres away and scooted off. Clearly disturbed by my passing. _That_ put the fear of God into me. And this is how Australian boys become men. In contrast, latching on to your first conspiracy theory or beating up a homeless person is the rite-of-passage for Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/70 "2024-04-20T14:05:23Z")
Looking into the Japanese situation, it seems the Ussuri brown bear, a very large brown bear subspecies, is the deadly bear there. There are over 10 000 of these in Hokkaido with an area of just 80 000 km2, which seems to me a huge bear density. Couple this with Hokkaido’s human population density, many times that of Northern Europe, and the Ussuri brown bear’s habit of fattening themselves with crops (not unusual among bear in itself), and the bear problem has its reasons. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/71 "2024-04-20T14:36:45Z")
Most of the bear attacks are not in Hokkaido, [however](https://japan-forward.com/bear-attacks-hit-record-high-claiming-six-lives/) and the Asian black bear seem to be responsible and most of the attacks are in northern Honshu. > [@](#): > > Between April and November 2023, there were 212 victims of bear attacks, including 6 deaths. Akita Prefecture recorded the highest number of victims at 70. > [@](#): > > In November, [Akita](https://japan-forward.com/tag/Akita-Prefecture), Iwate, and Niigata prefectures reported eight, five, and three victims, respectively. Hokkaido, Toyama, and Nagano prefectures each reported two victims. Miyagi, Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Fukui, Yamanashi, Gifu, Shimane, and Okayama prefectures each reported one victim. Fortunately, there were no fatalities in November. > > From April to November, there were 70 victims in Akita, 47 in Iwate, 14 in Fukushima, 12 in Nagano, 11 in Aomori, and 10 in Niigata. Here is a [video](https://youtu.be/ExaBERDkqdw?si=_cccrugJdMbXVlVv&t=128) of an attack by an asiatic black bear. Last year had a bad crop for the natural food of the bears. A long term problem is that with the declining rural population, fewer farmers and other residents are taking steps which made a clearer boundary between the deeper woods and populated areas. For example, farmers used to gather dead tree branches from the woods near their fields for firewood. (Back in the early 80s, my then girlfriend’s family collected firewood this way to heat their bath water.) Here is [an article](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14791748). > [@](#): > > Bears are expanding their habitat into depopulated areas around Japan, posing a threat to the residents who still live in those municipalities. > [@](#): > > Koji Yamazaki, a professor of animal ecology at the Tokyo University of Agriculture who is also a bear expert, was commissioned to analyze the data. > > The study found that in many areas where people have moved away, agriculture land and “satoyama” mountain foothills near residential neighborhoods are now desolate. > > These places have become overrun with wild vegetation, essentially expanding the natural environment for bears. > > Yamazaki said the expansion started in or around 2016. > > “Declining human activity has gradually narrowed satoyama, the ‘buffer zones’ that have maintained a symbiotic relationship between humans and bears,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/72 "2024-04-20T15:13:55Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I just want to add that it’s very likely that those 10-12 deaths a year are also limited to the more wild parts of the country- the Rockies and Alaska, along with some isolated state parks like Caprock Canyons in Texas, where the state’s pure bison herd roams freely within the park. > > Nobody’s getting mauled and killed by bears or wild animals in say… central New Jersey or east Texas. Not Central Jersey but it did happen in North Jersey. A college student was killed 10 years ago. I’ve seen bear in the area and they can be huge. > **[Rutgers student killed in bear attack](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/22/bear-attack-rutgers-student-killed/16078383/)** > > Darsh Patel, 22, was hiking with friends when they found the animal in Apshawa Preserve. > [@Toxylon](#): > > **Mr.Dibble,** > > I was going off your BBC article, which read like “we really try to come up with examples of boar attacks but fail miserably.” > > Keep the links coming! > > I was unable to read the Italy link due to paywall. > > The Spain link had two people seriously injured by attacking wild boars, while others in the group only kept safe by climbing trees. What is the context here? What happened that made the boar attack? What did they actually do? Questions abound. But non-hunters got attacked and seriously injured. > > The Germany link reported wild boar groups storming city centers. Who’d thunk it? What was the context that made the boar do that? Questions abound. As mentioned, a grown wild boar can pretty easily kill a human, as they are equipped to deal with large predators. > > These bizarre stormings are definitely dangerous and result in injuries, but they don’t end up with gored people. I don’t think there’s any wild animal in the 100kg weight range that didn’t result in injuries when panicking inside a building with people there. > > The France link: the boar apparently attacked the gardener during an ongoing hunt, where the boar was fleeing for her life. The boar “collided with a Rottweiler” before charging the gardener. That the local hunting society has paid hospital costs hints heavily that they know who’s to blame. > > At any rate, I’ll concede: wild boar attacks in Western Europe do happen, also to people that aren’t hunters going after wild boar. As a hunter in Northern Europe, our situation is very different. Most people who’d like to see a wild boar never get to see one. They are extremely skittish and wiley, and the closest a normal person can get to them is finding a ransacked veggie plot in the morning, with no boar to be seen anywhere. > > We do have 1/10th of the population density of Western Europe, plus a heavy hunting pressure that makes hunted species fear humans like nothing else. Maybe these are the key differences in relation to wild boar encounters. I haven’t been in Germany for 20 years but the boar could be very aggressive. They are looking for food. The Hohenfels army training area is overrun with them. Soldiers have to be very careful with trash and bringing snacks into the field. You could easily find a boar in your tent going through your gear. Never heard of fatalities but there have been injuries. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/73 "2024-04-20T19:09:18Z")
What can I say, apart from huge differences in population densities and hunting pressure across Europe? There are thousands of wild boar up here, but the idea that you could find a boar in your tent is nothing short of bizarre. They are pretty much like ghosts, never to be seen even by avid outdoorspeople - sure trashing a crop field with gusto in the dead of the night before leaving like the wind, but that’s it. They avoid people like the plague, and thanks to their keen senses of smell and hearing, plus intelligence, also succeed in that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/74 "2024-04-20T20:00:59Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Generally speaking humans vastly, even hysterically, overestimate how dangerous large wild animals are. You know what’s dangerous? Cows. Buffalo also can be dangerous for foolish tourists. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/75 "2024-04-20T20:09:37Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > What can I say, apart from huge differences in population densities and hunting pressure across Europe? > > There are thousands of wild boar up here, but the idea that you could find a boar in your tent is nothing short of bizarre. They are pretty much like ghosts, never to be seen even by avid outdoorspeople - sure trashing a crop field with gusto in the dead of the night before leaving like the wind, but that’s it. They avoid people like the plague, and thanks to their keen senses of smell and hearing, plus intelligence, also succeed in that. They have been all over Hohenfels for decades. We would do motor pool guard from inside trucks because the boar would wander through at night. They have hunts each year to cull the population ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/76 "2024-04-20T21:12:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Buffalo also can be dangerous for foolish tourists. Well, sure. But so are a whole lot of things which would be benign at a respectful distance. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/77 "2024-04-20T21:15:01Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > They have been all over Hohenfels for decades. We would do motor pool guard from inside trucks because the boar would wander through at night. They have hunts each year to cull the population We had feral pigs (wild boar is the same thing) in California. The grown males really give one pause. I saw one cross our driveway, about the size of a sofa. But less tolerant than a sofa. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/78 "2024-04-20T22:12:17Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The grown males really give one pause. I saw one cross our driveway, about the size of a sofa. But less tolerant than a sofa. Tell me about it. They’re all over my part of Missouri, and the destruction they can (and do) wreak on agriculture and the environment cannot be overstated. My feelings on gun control are mixed, and I know that the whole “I need military hardware to protect my land against feral hogs!!” is kind of a trope. But the thing is, those guys are like Mongo from _Blazing Saddles_: bullets just make them angry. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/79 "2024-04-21T06:37:36Z")
A story about stingrays. When I was about 7 or 8 we lived in a coastal town in Victoria that was divided from the next town by a tidal river. It was the middle of summer, and a stinking hot night, so the family and a couple of friends wandered down to the riverside for a reprieve from the heat. It was an ebb tide, so no fast flowing water, and I decided to jump in the river to show-off my new-found floating skills to my mum. With arms and legs akimbo, I stuck my head half into the water, and just whiled away the time. On the shore, my family/friends noticed a whole school of stingrays gliding below me (water was about 3’ deep) and yelled at me to get out of the water. But of course, i couldn’t hear a thing (ears submerged) and was blissfully unaware of the danger. Thank goodness I COULDN’T hear the yells, because I would have panicked and likely suffered an injury, or worse. Anyway, that story was part of the family folklore for many years…and whilst I was a major player, had no idea what all the fuss was about. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242/80 "2024-04-21T10:37:58Z")
If you hang about in any estuarine areas in Southern Qld/Northern NSW this sort of stingray encounter is not too uncommon. I nearly stepped on one weekend before last. They simply aren’t that dangerous, 99.9% of the time Steve Irwin was stunningly unlucky. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-are-fatal-wild-animal-on-human-attacks-in-western-europe-japan-australia-nz/1000242.md?page=5)