Georgia Injury Law Blog
Summer is when there is an increase in dog bite attacks across Georgia, possibly due to the fact that more people are out during this time and in contact with dogs. However, the weather may play a much bigger role in the increase in dog bites during the summer months than earlier believed. Unfortunately, dog bites often result in serious personal injuries.
According to the results of a new study that was published recently, hot weather may cause aggression in dogs just the same way as it does in humans. When temperatures are higher, human beings are likely to become irritable and aggressive. They may suffer from disturbed sleep during hot days which causes increased irritability and discomfort. Incidents of road rage, for instance, are likely to peak during summer months. Several studies have underlined this fact. However, there have not been enough studies done to understand the impact of higher temperatures on animals like dogs.
The researchers focused on 8 metropolitan American cities, and extracted data on dog bite attacks that occurred in these cities over a 10 – year period. They found more than 69,000 bites occurred in these cities over the time period. When the researchers drilled down further into the data, they found that dog bites were more likely to occur not only when temperatures were higher, but also when there were higher UV levels. In short, they found a link between higher temperatures, ozone and higher levels of air pollution and increased attacks by dogs.