A postal worker delivers mail on October one, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
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A postal worker delivers mail on Oct one, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson/Getty Visuals
It seems like an old-fashioned stereotype, the pet chasing soon after the mailman.
But for thousands of postal personnel very last 12 months, man’s finest close friend turned out to be a big hazard of the occupation.
In 2022, dogs attacked extra than 5,three hundred staff members who had been providing the mail, in accordance to the U.S. Postal Service. It was a slight drop from the past calendar year, when far more than 5,400 postal workers ended up attacked.
Officers say even nicely-behaved pets who really don’t demonstrate signals of aggression might lash out at postal workers, who generally ought to enter a residence to fall off the mail, and the effects can occasionally be fatal.
“When our mail carriers are bitten, it is generally a ‘good dog’ that experienced not beforehand behaved in a menacing way,” USPS Occupational Protection and Wellness Senior Director Linda DeCarlo claimed in a statement.
The Postal Services launched the information as portion of its annual Countrywide Canine Chunk Recognition 7 days, a community service campaign meant to elevate awareness of attacks on mail carriers.
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California saw the most canine-on-postal employee assaults very last calendar year, with 675 incidents, adopted by Texas, New York and Pennsylvania. The amount of assaults in all four states enhanced last year more than 2021.
Houston experienced the optimum number of attacks of any town, with Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland trailing behind.
Officials are inquiring pet owners to acquire a couple of methods that could aid safeguard postal staff from a potentially harmful experience, this sort of as keeping canine inside, at the rear of a fence or on a leash when the mail carrier arrives.
The Postal Service also suggests that individuals not allow little ones get mail immediately from a postal worker, considering the fact that protective pets might imagine the child is in threat.
“When letter carriers produce mail in our communities, puppies that are not secured or leashed can turn into a nemesis and unpredictable and assault,” Leeann Theriault, USPS staff security and well being awareness supervisor, mentioned in a assertion.
“Help us produce your mail securely by preserving your dog protected and out of the way just before your carrier arrives,” Theriault additional.
Authorities say mail carriers are qualified to place pet dogs on their route and just take measures to keep secure, this sort of as refraining from petting puppies and producing sounds right before coming into a house so the pet understands they are there.
In the function of an attack, postal personnel are instructed to use their mail satchel as a defend or deploy puppy repellent if essential.
The Postal Provider suggests an intense doggy could bring about the company to quickly quit mail assistance in an full community, forcing inhabitants to pick up their mail at a write-up office environment, until finally the puppy is correctly restrained.