WHAT IS THE DEADLIEST CREATURE IN THE UK?

Mosquitoes are infamously the world's most deadly animal, killing up to a million people every year via the diseases they spread, such as malaria and dengue fever. In the UK, however, our 36 native mosquito species pose little in the way of threat, so they don't feature in the three-way tie for the title of UK's deadliest creature.

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One of the three that does, is dogs. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, recently added American XL bully dogs to the list of banned breeds after a rise in dog-related deaths. Numbers were around three per year, but in 2022, 10 people in England and Wales died from dog bite injuries, the tragic result of irresponsible ownership and a trend for breeding bigger, more muscular dogs.