"What I'm being told by most people who own pit
bulls or Rottweilers is that insurance companies are
telling them, 'If you have those dogs, we'll drop you,' "
said Tia Torres, who operates Villa Lobos Rescue
Center from her A gua Dulce home.
A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta concluded that dogs bite more
than 4.7 million people, or nearly 2% of the U.S.
population, each year. About 12 people die from dog
attacks annually.
The number of dog bites requiring medical attention
rose 37% over an eight-year span ending in 1994, a
year when more than 800,000 dog bites nationwide
required medical care, according to a CDC study.
Insurance companies are feeling the pain of such
bites in the form of millions of dollars they pay to
victims--who are frequently among society's most
vulnerable members.
"Dog bite attacks are one of the leading public
health risks to children 12 years or younger,"
according to Brandon Shamim, a spokesman for
State Farm Insurance, which has launched a national
campaign to prevent such attacks. "More than 50% of
all dog bite attacks are focused on that age group."
Dog bites cost State Farm $80 million in 1996 for
14,000 claims, roughly a third of the company's
bodily injury and medical payments, Shamim said.
Nationwide, insurers paid an estimated $250 million
in 1997 in medical and liability costs from
dog-bite-related injuries.
Pit bulls, Rottweilers, shepherds, huskies, malamutes
and Dobermans led the list of dogs most frequently
involved in fatal attacks, according to a CDC study,
followed by chows, Great Danes, Saint Bernards and
Akitas.
Though pinschers and shepherds were once the
canines of choice for those seeking aggressive dogs,
they have since been surpassed in popularity by pit
bulls and Rottweilers, according to Ric Hill, vice
president of corporate relations for Woodland
Hills-based 20th Century Insurance.
"In some cases it's not uncommon to find households
that have two or three pit bulls or Rottweilers," Hill
added.
In one case--in which a child's face was severely
damaged by a pit bull--Hill said his company paid out
"hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Animal shelter owner Torres blames society's criminal
element for attacks involving pit bulls and Rottweilers.
"It's the gang members, druggies and thugs," she said.
"It's their pets that are going out and attacking
everybody, yet it's we as responsible homeowners who
are suffering."
Torres, who cares for from 20 to 40 pit bulls at any
given time, said she and other pet owners pay the
price in the form of higher insurance premiums or by
having to go without insurance altogether. Torres
pays about $300 a year for a special policy to cover
her dogs.
"I don't want to say that insurance companies are
picking on pit bulls because I understand their
concern because of all the pit bull attacks," Torres
said. "But I wish they would look at it on a
case-by-case basis."
The issue of breed, according to Shamim, has
become a major sticking point with homeowners as it
relates to their insurance policies.
"The breed issue is in many ways irrelevant," said State
Farm's Shamim, who said his company does not
discriminate based on breed. "One thing we've found
from our research is that it's the socialization and
behavior of the do g [that determines] whether it will
bite or not.
"We've had instances [when] Cocker spaniels have
bitten people," Shamim said.
20th Century's Hill added that his company tries to
refrain from passing judgment based solely on a dog's
breed.
"We try not to make that type of judgment unless we
have advance notice," Hill said. "If we go to inspect a
property and the inspector is attacked by a dog,
which has happened, that tells us something."
In such cases, or if a dog bites someone after a
policy has been written, Hill said 20th Century will
either charge the policy holder more or ask them to
exclude the dog from liability coverage.
New Jersey-based Prudential Property & Casualty
Insurance Co. will insure a homeowner with a dog
unless the animal has bitten before, been
attack-trained or is a wild breed not intended for
domestication.
"We do . . . ask what kind of dog," spokeswoman
Laurita Warner said. "If they have a breed known to
have aggressive tendencies, we will ask more
questions."
Unlike 20th Century, Warner said, Prudential does
not charge more if they believe a dog poses a
substantial risk.
"We either grant the policy or we don't," she said.
Insurers like Hill and Warner emphasize that trying to
establish the level of risk a policy is assuming because
of a problematic dog is no different from sizing up a
home with poor electrical wiring or one with an
unfenced pool.
"It takes underwriting judgment," Hill said. "We don't
have one size fits all."
The problem in Southern California, according to
some animal workers, is being fueled by more people
choosing dogs for security purposes and the spread of
illegal dog fighting throughout the region, which has
led to a prolife ration of vicious dogs ready to attack.
Sample surveys of dogs at Los Angeles city shelters
indicate that 40% to 45% are pit bull or pit-bull mixes
and 20% stem from Rottweiler or chow breeds. "We
believe the population of dogs that go through the
city shelters is reflective of dogs in the city," said Gini
Barrett, director of the American Humane Assn.'s
Western regional office in Encino. "I'm not aware of
another city in the United States that is as addicted to
big aggressive dogs."
Phyllis Daugherty, co-director of Los Angeles-based
Animal Issues Movement, contends that irresponsible
breeders are to blame.
"For a pit bull or Rottweiler to attack a human 15
years ago was almost never heard of," said
Daugherty, who believes breeders should be required
to get state licenses. "But what has happened over the
years is the inbreeding and deliberate creation of
bad-natured dogs."
Added Barrett: "It's not so much what breed you have
but whether it has been neutered, obedience trained
and has adequate confinement. . . . Those are the risk
factors that homeowners need to be looking at."
For those who choose not to take precautions, the
consequences can be devastating. Consider the case
of Christopher Wilson, which some observers believe
served as a wake-up call to the insurance industry to
the dog-bite probl em.
The 11-year-old was waiting at a school bus stop last
year when he was fatally attacked by three Rottweilers
in front of his little brother and 17 classmates. In
addition to repeatedly biting Christopher, the dogs
crushed his spinal cord and severed a carotid artery
and jugular vein.
"He had absolutely no blood" when a deputy got to
him, Sheriff Bill Deppish said following the attack.
Authorities shot and killed all three dogs, which
neighbors said had terrorized the rural subdivision of
Milford, Kan., for years.
These days Christopher's parents, Brian and Violet
Wilson, derive little satisfaction from the fact that the
dogs' owner, Sabine Davidson, has been sentenced to
12 years in prison, Geary County Atty. Chris Biggs
said.
"There's just no way you can compensate them for the
loss they've suffered," Biggs said of the Wilsons. "This
has had a devastating effect on their family and the
whole community."
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