Cows grazing on a country road, looking very peaceful.
But beneath their gentle exterior lurks a terrifying threat: In fact, cattle raids generally kill about 20 Americans each year, more than sharks, bears, and school shootings combined.
The next time you see sensational reports about impending doom, remember the humble cow.
Sharks scare us more, but they only kill 5 Americans a year. What about bears? Bears attack and kill about 2 people each year. School shootings are tragic and horrific, but they don't cause nearly as many deaths as cow trampling.
But cows don't get the same treatment in the media: there is no “Cow Week” on the Discovery Channel, no breathless news coverage of the “cow menace.”
Imagine what would happen if the media covered cattle attacks like plane crashes or mass shootings: 24/7 coverage with flashy graphics and ominous theme music like “Hoofs of Death: Are You in Danger?” or “Mad Cow Disease: The Silent Killer Lurking in Your Pasture.”
Experts will speculate endlessly about the motives of these mad cows and society's inability to solve the problem once and for all. Politicians will loudly call for stricter cattle control laws. Social media will be awash with hashtags like #FarmerStrong.
But the reality is that cow raids receive little to no media attention — not because the deaths are any less tragic, but because the mass killing of cows doesn't generate clicks or newspaper sales — so these killers continue their reign of terror unchecked and unreported.
Cow attack perspective
In fact, most cow-related fatalities are caused by farm workers and others who work closely with cows. These fatalities are often caused by blunt force trauma such as being kicked, trampled or crushed.
of CDC says Most of the fatal cow attacks are caused by bulls, with the rest caused by attacks by single cows and multiple cows. Most of the cattle that die are old, disproportionately bulls. And, puns and media complaints aside, the killings are downright violent.
These 20 deaths are tragic, but they are nothing compared to the 42,000 traffic deaths that occur annually in the U.S. But as with cattle attacks, we rarely see sensationalized reports about the “killer cars” roaming our streets. We know that driving can be dangerous, and we view those dangers in context.
The same logic applies to cattle: working with large animals always involves some degree of danger, and farmers and ranchers accept that risk as part of the job.
Our distorted view of risk
How we perceive the threat of cattle raiding reveals a lot about how we consume media and assess risk: we are far more likely to die from mundane causes than from headline-grabbing events like shark attacks or plane crashes.
But fear sells, and in a 24-hour news cycle, the most sensational stories get the most airtime, regardless of what the actual risks are.
So the next time you see a sensational report of impending doom, remember the humble cow: life's real dangers are far more common, and far less reported, than we'd be led to believe.
We live in a world full of risks, big and small. We can't eliminate all risks, but we can view them objectively.
The things that frighten us most are not necessarily the things most likely to harm us.
Editor's note: This version of the article is Ken LaCorte's Substack.
