Background Animal injuries are the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide including developing countries. Worldwide, up to five million people are bitten by snakes every year; the majority in Africa and South-East Asia. Dog bites account for tens of millions of injuries annually; the highest risk is among children. In Bangladesh, the most of the animal injuries including snake and dog bites are common. This study determined the magnitude and pattern of animal injury mortalities and morbidities in rural Bangladesh.

Methods A cross sectional survey was conducted in 19 Unions of 3 sub-districts of Bangladesh from June to September 2013. Socio-economic, demographic, environmental and injury related data were collected from adult respondents by face-to-face interview with the help of structured questionnaires at a household level. A total of 534,221 population of all ages were studied from 128,820 households.

Results The incidence of fatal and non-fatal animal injury in all ages were 1.2 (95% CI: 0.4–3.4) and 1,165.4 (95% CI: 1128.8–1203.1) per 100,000 population respectively. The highest non-fatal animal injury rate 1,367.0 (95% CI: 1310.7–1425.7) per 100,000 population was observed in the age group 25–64 years. The morbidity was found higher among males across all ages. 65.0% of the animal injuries occurred without any provocation. The highest proportion (28.2%) of animal injuries was caused by the cattle, which was followed by wasp 24.4%, dog 11.3%, hornet 9.6%, and snake 6.4% bites.

Conclusions Above data support that animal injury is an important public health issue in Bangladesh. Immediate attention should be made to strengthen the intervention measures to prevent these unexpected events.