
"You are 6 times more likely to be killed by a pig than by a shark" - cwan
http://www.shark.ch/Information/Accidents/index.html
======
keltex
Maybe for the population in general. But for example, I surf and see sharks
all the time. But I don't think I've ever seen a pig in real life that wasn't
in an enclosed pen.

For a cool list of local shark sightings, read here:

[http://www.sharkresearchworldwide.org/pacific_coast_shark_ne...](http://www.sharkresearchworldwide.org/pacific_coast_shark_news.htm)

~~~
khafra
Yeah; it'd be great if they'd post likelihood ratios: For example, if I live
in Florida, a shark attack hotspot, and like to go swimming at night--shark
feeding time--what are my chances now?

~~~
brlewis
My takeaway from the article is that I should spend no time thinking about
shark attacks since it's only a distraction from the much larger danger of
drowning,

The pig statistic is mere distraction too.

~~~
khafra
Well, .00000003% or so of the US population gets eaten by sharks every year,
so there must be _some_ circumstances under which it becomes a significant
risk.

The question is whether those circumstances are identifiable enough to be
worth the cognitive load of avoiding: If 90% of shark attacks happened to
people swimming at night in Florida, and only .00000006% of the US population
actually swims at night in Florida, it might be an activity worth avoiding.

------
pyrhho
<http://xkcd.com/795/>

~~~
Dn_Ab
ah conditional probability. I wonder how many thousands of years of
development we as a society have lost from a lack of understanding of this
concept.

If there is a piece of maths that should be drilled into every student more
than any other, its at least a vague understanding of the difference between
joint and conditional probability. and the underlying knowledge the ability to
make this distinction implies. Much more likely to be useful to a randomly
selected daily life than trig, calculus or geometry.

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Adrock
Maybe the fear of sharks prevents people from getting themselves into
situations where they would be killed by one. My takeaway is that I need to
start cultivating a healthy fear of pigs.

~~~
freiheit
Don't worry, if you see pigs in the wild the fear will come naturally.

~~~
waterlesscloud
I was out in the Arizona desert with a friend, and he was walking a few dozen
feet ahead and he scared some javelinas out of the underbrush. They took off
running past me, and it was a little unnerving. Panicked, not-so-bright little
creatures, who knows what they might do?

Another friend of mine told me of a night he was camping in Georgia, and a
wild boar came sniffing around his tent. Said it was the worst smelling thing
he'd ever been around, and was a bit scared not knowing what it might do if he
startled it.

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saintfiends
I think these should take into account the number of people on land and the
time they spend on land vs that of water when comparing such statistics.

~~~
jordanmessina
I was going to say the exact same thing. I think not only what you mentioned
but also how much time they spend with the animals should be considered. I'm
sure those killed by pigs are farmers that spend a lot of time with pigs. The
attacks over the time around humans ratio should be looked at.

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mynameishere
Of all animals, I've been attacked by swans the most. And you almost never see
them. They're just really assholes.

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zeteo
The submission title is misleading and inexact. It's not a quote from the
article. The article actually says

"Alone in the USA and Canada approximately 40 people are killed each year by
pigs – six times more than by sharks worldwide."

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nkurz
I'm pretty confident this is false. It's been repeated a lot in articles
(including the usually solid Bruce Schneier), but in an admittedly brief
search, I can find no evidence to back it up.

Iowa is one of the largest pork producing states, and I can't find any mention
of the deaths by pigs in the years I paged through: <http://www.public-
health.uiowa.edu/face/Summaries/index.html>

New Mexico, a mostly rural state with a significant number of animal caused
fatalities, does not seem to attribute any deaths to pigs out of the 63 deaths
(including 2 by sheep) reported here: <http://www.nmwild.org/wp-
content/uploads/animalrelated.pdf>

I can't find recent data from the CDC, but this report has fairly complete
coverage from 1991-2001. Snakes are at 5 per year for the US, spiders 6, bees
and wasps at 50, but pigs are not mentioned specifically anywhere in the
report: <http://www.scark.org/docs/Animal%20Related%20Fatalities.pdf>

My best guess is that this number was either intended as sample copy and left
in a final report, falsely conflates "other specified animal" with pigs, is a
worldwide rather than US/Canada specific number, or attempts to included
deaths from "swine flu" as death due to a pig. Please don't repeat this trope
unless you have better evidence that it is indeed true.

~~~
Gibbon
In all likelihood, the stats are referring to wild boars and feral pigs, which
can be extremely aggressive and have been know to attack and gore humans from
time to time.

Here's a normal pig that attacked a number of people:
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-410319/Nurse-
savaged...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-410319/Nurse-savaged-
enraged-giant-pig.html)

~~~
nkurz
Yes, from time to time. But I'd bet you any sum of money that there are less
than 40 such fatal attacks per year in the US and Canada. And I say this as
someone who hunts wild boars, and currently has 2 wild boar hams soaking in
brine in preparation for a Christmas dinner.

And what do you mean "in all likelihood"? Do you mean that you have some
evidence that there are more wild boar attacks per year in the US and Canada
than there are shark attacks worldwide? Or do you mean that the concept is
kind of cool despite being entirely without evidence?

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gsiener
I used to work with the Cape Eleuthera Institute (<http://ceibahamas.org>) --
they are doing world class shark research to raise awareness about how
important and endangered sharks are.

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danielson
"You are much more likely to be killed by bees, dogs, bats, and certainly in
Hong Kong, automobiles." [http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-
News/2010/0204/The-glo...](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-
News/2010/0204/The-global-odds-of-a-shark-attack-You-re-more-likely-to-eat-
one-than-be-eaten)

------
phunel
Not nearly as silly as it sounds. Feral hogs in the south can top out at
400-800 pounds (though this is by no means the average) and are quite clever,
and sometimes aggressive. I'm not sure if there have been confirmed fatal
attacks on humans, but they do carry brucellosis.

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atlei
If you never go swimming, or to the sea (or above), you have a 0% chance of
being killed by a shark.

If you don't work with pigs (a pigfarm ?) or visit any farms, you probably
have a 0% chance of getting killed by pigs as well (unless you count over-
eating ;-) ..

~~~
iuygtrftghyujik
Unless you live somewhere - like europe - where there are vicious wild boar in
the forests.

~~~
pinaceae
i live in vienna, i see boars regularly in the viennese forest. you just walk
past them, stay calm, no problem. if there are piglets you stop and observe,
never get between the piglets and their mother.

i can say with certainty that i would react quite differently if i saw a shark
while swimming in the sea. but of course, pissing myself in the sea is no big
embarrassment.

~~~
jamii
In the forest of dean the boars have become a pest. They rip up tents and
steal food.

~~~
cullenking
In Oregon, the local department of fish and wildlife has declared "feral pigs"
a nuisance, meaning they can be hunted as much as wanted. They rip of farms,
destroy fences etc. Every once in a while, they eviscerate someone, which
keeps it interesting :)

~~~
iuygtrftghyujik
Doesn't the Constitution give you the right to arm pigs - or is it only bears?

~~~
cullenking
Razor tusks and all, not sure if the pigs need to be armed!
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogzilla>

------
rodh
Two words: Shark flu

