Rare, but deadly

Being killed by an animal isn’t common — especially by predators like alligators. In the United States, bees and other insects kill far more people than alligators. So do cows. Even so, children do sometimes fall prey to animals.

Alligators Most fatal attacks by the large reptiles have killed adults, but the toddler in Orlando wasn’t the first child to be killed by an alligator. In 2001, for example, a 2-year-old girl scaled a fence separating her back yard from a lake, and officials later determined that she’d been attacked and drowned by an alligator.

Bears As anyone who’s seen the movie ‘‘Grizzly Man’’ is aware, a grizzly bear can kill and consume adults — even a man who mistakenly thinks he’s the animal’s best friend. Black bears have also been known to do so. In 1992, a 6-year-old boy was killed and partially eaten by a grizzly in Alaska, one of two fatalities that summer that set off what officials started calling ­‘‘bearanoia’’ and a rash of shootings of bears.

Tigers The tigers most infamous for eating humans are those in the Sundarbans region of India and Bangladesh, and children have been among the victims.

Lions India recently put 18 lions ‘‘on trial’’ for killing three people in a sanctuary, and the culprit will spend life in a zoo. Some human-attackers went on to become legends, such as the lion of Mfuwe, Zambia, that killed several people and ate at least one boy in 1991.

Crocodiles A 7-year-old boy was playing with a balloon near a river in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, when a crocodile leapt up and dragged him in the water, according to his father, who witnessed the event. He was the eighth person killed by crocodiles in the area in two years, according to news reports, and his remains were never found.

Pigs These animals aren’t usually considered predators. But they’re open-minded about their food, and in rare cases, it’s included children, according to news reports. Last year, police in Hyderabad, India, said stray pigs had killed and partially eaten a 5-month-old baby girl.

SOURCE: Washington Post