It seems Australian horses and cows are more dangerous than our crocodiles and snakes

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I live in Western Australia and often encounter comments about our deadly creatures. Everyone knows about, and is fearful of, our snakes, spiders and crocodiles. Mostly I try to reassure them that some of what they’ve heard isn’t quite right. But sometimes I think it’s good that people will be too scared to visit our wonderful country and we’ll have it all to ourselves. I found a chart today which shows that fears about venomous creatures are over-stressed. Worldwide, over 700,000 people are killed each year by mosquitoes while snakes account for about 110,000 deaths. The statistics for deaths by animals in Australia are very interesting and probably not what you'd imagine. In fact, between 2008 and 2017, accidents involving horses, cows and animal transport accounted for 77 deaths. This was the highest number of deaths for any group. I’ll list the other figures: Other mammals - 60 deaths Hornets, wasps and bees - 27 Marine animals including sharks - 26. Snakes and lizards – 23 Dogs – 22 Crocodiles – 17 So come on down under and enjoy a holiday in a sunshine. The photo is of another blue-tongue lizard which turned up near the front door yesterday. They are also called bobtails or sleepy lizards. I put up a photo of one a while ago but notice how this one blends so well with the gravel of our driveway.