A postal employee delivers mail on October 1, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.

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Scott Olson/Getty Images

A postal employee delivers mail on October 1, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

It appears like an old style stereotype, the canine chasing after the mailman.

But for hundreds of postal employees final 12 months, man’s finest good friend turned out to be a serious hazard of the job.

In 2022, dogs attacked more than 5,300 employees who had been delivering the mail, in line with the U.S. Postal Service. It was a slight drop from the previous year, when greater than 5,400 postal staff had been attacked.

Officials say even well-behaved pets who do not present indicators of aggression might lash out at postal employees, who usually should enter a property to drop off the mail, and the outcomes can sometimes be deadly.

“When our mail carriers are bitten, it is usually a ‘good dog’ that had not previously behaved in a menacing way,” USPS Occupational Safety and Health Senior Director Linda DeCarlo stated in an announcement.

The Postal Service launched the information as a part of its annual National Dog Bite Awareness Week, a public service marketing campaign meant to lift consciousness of assaults on mail carriers.

California noticed essentially the most canine-on-postal employee assaults final 12 months, with 675 incidents, adopted by Texas, New York and Pennsylvania. The variety of assaults in all 4 states elevated final 12 months over 2021.

Houston had the very best variety of assaults of any metropolis, with Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland trailing behind.

Officials are asking pet homeowners to take a couple of steps that might assist defend postal employees from a probably harmful encounter, similar to protecting canines inside, behind a fence or on a leash when the mail service arrives.

The Postal Service additionally recommends that individuals not let kids take mail straight from a postal employee, since protecting pets might imagine the kid is in peril.

“When letter carriers deliver mail in our communities, dogs that are not secured or leashed can become a nemesis and unpredictable and attack,” Leeann Theriault, USPS worker security and well being consciousness supervisor, stated in an announcement.

“Help us deliver your mail safely by keeping your dog secure and out of the way before your carrier arrives,” Theriault added.

Authorities say mail carriers are educated to identify canines on their route and take measures to remain protected, similar to refraining from petting canines and making noise earlier than coming into a property so the canine is aware of they’re there.

In the occasion of an assault, postal employees are informed to make use of their mail satchel as a defend or deploy dog repellent if vital.

The Postal Service says an aggressive canine might trigger the company to quickly cease mail service in a complete neighborhood, forcing residents to select up their mail at a submit workplace, till the canine is correctly restrained.