[nukeman]

The cause is mostly rabies infections acquired from either strays or village/communal dogs (not quite pets, but not strays either).

[tyleo]

Do you have a reference?

[nukeman]

Per the CDC, they estimate 59,000 deaths worldwide due to rabies, with the vast majority caused by dogs. There may be more deaths that are unreported.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/world/index.html