Week 6: Keeping human-wildlife and human-domestic pet interactions safe: understanding animal behaviour

Question 1

Name few day to day human-animal interactions.

Answer 1

Companion animals
Animal-assisted therapies
Working animals (e.g. sniffer dogs, police horses)

Question 2

Principles of Learning Theory explain how problems
with wildlife develop & how to ‘solve’ them
For example:
* tourists bitten by overly habituated ‘wild’ animals
Avoid problems through:
* Responsible wildlife tourism
* Ethical field research

Question 3

The risks associated with wildlife tourism can be explained by ________ theory.

Answer 3

learning
((tourists become associated with food, animals are on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement, animals have become habituated to people etc).

Question 4

Dog bite injuries are ranked among top 10 non-fatal injuries in children aged 5-9. True/False

Answer 4

True

Question 5

In developing regions dog bite injuries are ____ times higher.

Answer 5

100

Question 6

What are few of the main reasons for increased risk and severity of injuries in children? ________ physical size increases risk & severity of injuries to head and neck.

Answer 6

1. smaller physical size
2. cognitive inability to perceive the danger

Question 7

_______-based interventions are the most effective in improving safety knowledge.

Answer 7

Video

Question 8

Instruction with live dogs most effective in
increasing children’s safe behaviours with dogs. True/False

Answer 8

True

Question 9

More than ____ percent of surveyed participants in SA have fear of dogs.

Answer 9

50

Question 10

____ percent of participants in a community survey in SA
were afraid of dogs.

Answer 10

43

Question 11

AGGRESSION IS PART OF NORMAL BEHAVIOURAL
REPERTOIRE OF DOGS:
* Lack of firm direction, may result in dogs using
aggression to get what they want
* If not socialised and trained, dogs may become
nervous & aggressive
* If owners & victims don’t recognise early signs of
aggressive behaviour, aggressive situations get
out of hand
* Genes may contribute to aggression in dogs

Question 12

5% of SA respondents in 1991 SA government survey
‘attacked’ during previous 3 years
In 2004, 46 % of SA community sample experienced at
least 1 dog attack during lives
≈ 6,500 dog ‘attacks’ annually in Adelaide require
some kind of treatment: 800 people seek treatment at
public hospital ER (250 children <12 years, 60 with
severe head & facial injuries).

Question 13

CONTRARY TO PUBLIC PERCEPTION SERIOUS ATTACKS:
* 80% occur at home (not in public settings), by
known dogs
* 13% in streets/shops
* 6% in parks/playgrounds/ovals
* 1% on the beach (1%) by ‘stranger’ dogs
Most injuries occur to elderly & very young

Question 14

DELTA SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA ESTIMATES THAT EVERY
YEAR:
* > 100,000 Australians bitten by dogs (varying
degrees of severity)
* 12,000 ―14,000 seek treatment in ER of public
hospitals (1,400 of these warrant hospitalisation)
* two thirds of bites involve family/neighbour’s dog
* 60% of bites occur in younger children (to head &
neck)
* most dog bites occur because people (adults &
children) not educated about appropriate
behaviour around dogs

Question 15

Three types of dog aggression:

Answer 15

1. Play aggression
2. Predatory aggression
3. Dominance aggression

Question 16

MODELING
(Observational Learning)
Teach and model the DELTA DOG SAFE messages to
your child as you would road safety