U.S. Postal Service employees are dealing with a rising variety of canine assaults, with 5,800 letter carriers struggling bites final yr, in keeping with the USPS.

“Letter carriers are uncovered to potential hazards day by day, none extra prevalent than a canine encounter. All it takes is one interplay for a letter service to presumably endure an harm,” mentioned Leeann Theriault, USPS Supervisor, Worker Security and Well being Consciousness, in a information launch to spotlight a promotional marketing campaign operating this week to attract consideration to the issue. 

By state, California noticed the best quantity of incidents wherein canine bit mail supply personnel final yr, with 727 instances, up from 675 in 2022. Texas ranked No. 2, with 411 incidents, adopted by Ohio (359), Pennsylvania (334) and Illinois (316). New York, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan and Missouri spherical up the highest 10 states.

Listed here are the highest 20 U.S. cities for canine assaults in 2023, in keeping with the USPS, together with the variety of particular person incidents:

1. Los Angeles (65)
2. Houston (56)
3. Chicago (48)
4. St. Louis (46)
5. Cleveland (44)
6. San Diego (41)
7. Dallas (39)
8. Cincinnati (38)
9. Philadelphia (34)
10. Columbus, Ohio (33)
11. Kansas Metropolis, Mo. (32)
12. Indianapolis (30)
13. Memphis, Tenn. (29)
14. Louisville, Ky. (28)
15. Minneapolis (27)
16. Albuquerque, N.M. (26)
17. San Antonio (26)
18. Sacramento, Calif. (26)
19. Milwaukee (23)
20. Dayton, Ohio (23)

Canine house owners can face authorized repercussions 

The potential hurt can embody a monetary chunk for canine house owners, the USPS cautioned. The common value per insurance coverage declare for a canine chunk is $64,555, in keeping with the postal service, citing data from the Insurance coverage Info Institute. 

“When a postal worker suffers an harm, the proprietor may very well be accountable for medical payments, misplaced wages, uniform substitute prices, and ache and struggling for the worker,” USPS said in a information launch. 

To keep away from a canine confrontation, letter carriers are skilled to:

But when a canine does assault, carriers are additionally skilled to face their floor and use repellent, if vital. 

Most individuals know roughly when their letter service arrives every day, so safe your canine inside the home, behind a fence or on a lease beforehand to reduce the potential hazard, the USPS suggested. Canine house owners must also not have youngsters take mail straight from a letter service because the canine may then view the postal employee as a menace to the kid, it added.

If harmful canine points will not be resolved, house owners could be required to lease a publish workplace field to get mail.