Going Above and Beyond:Quite a few states fall outside the national average in certain animal-related deaths. While Texas is scorpion country and a place where we might expect to see high mortality rates, venomous arthropods are also top killers in North Carolina. Surprisingly, your chance of being crushed or bitten by reptiles is highest in Missouri and Illinois. And you should worry as much about venomous snakes and lizards in Georgia as you should in California. Dog bites are more common in the Northeast but are also prevalent in Alabama and Arizona. Notably absent from the map are fish, including sharks – arguably one of the most feared creatures in the sea – notoriously clearing beaches after a sighting of one offshore or a screening of “Jaws” too close to bikini season. In reality, less than one person per year is killed by a shark in the United States. |
