United States Postal Service<\/a> has shared the cities and states where mail carriers suffered the most dog bite incidents as Dog Bite Awareness month kicks off next week. \u00a0USPS workers reported more than 5,200 dog attacks last year, with Los Angeles topping the list of cities where carriers faced the most incidents.<\/p>\nThe agency is using the data \u2014 alongside a renewed push for safety guidance \u2014 to urge dog owners into taking the threat more seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single day, our postal employees serve their communities across dynamic, fast-changing environments,\u201d Leeann Theriault, employee safety and health awareness manager, said in a news release. \u201cPreventing dog-related incidents requires constant, shared vigilance. This campaign reinforces a vital truth: Animal behaviors can change in an instant, but proactive awareness from both our carriers and the customers we serve can stop painful injuries before they ever happen.”<\/p>\n
The ask from USPS is simple: secure your dog before the mail arrives. That means keeping pets in a separate, closed room before opening the door for a delivery, making sure the door is fully shut when stepping outside, and keeping dogs on a leash during delivery hours.<\/p>\n
USPS also cautions dog owners to never accept mail directly from a carrier in the presence of their dog and to teach children to avoid doing so as dogs can misinterpret the interaction as a threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The stakes go beyond a single bite. Carriers who feel unsafe can suspend delivery to a home on the spot. If the situation isn’t resolved, the owner may be left picking up their own mail at a local post office.<\/p>\n
The mail service warned it may not just be your correspondence affected, but your wallet too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dog attacks on postal workers can result in owners paying thousands for medical bill, lost shifts, replacement clothing and even emotional distress, USPS said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was walking my route when a dog jumped the fence and lunged at me,\u201d San Antonio Letter Carrier Fiona Hudson said in a statement. \u201cI used my dog repellent and mail bag to defend myself, but it was too late. I was rushed to the hospital bleeding, with a broken bone, a severe arm sprain and was barely able to move. While my physical wounds have healed, the trauma of that vicious attack stays with me. Customers must take responsibility and secure their dogs during delivery hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCities with the most dog attacks <\/p>\n
According to USPS, these cities have most dog attack incidents reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Los Angeles leads the pack with a commanding score of 70, nearly 20 points ahead of second-place Dallas. Here’s how 33 major U.S. cities stack up.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles \u2014 70Dallas \u2014 50Denver \u2014 45Houston \u2014 44Chicago \u2014 43St. Louis \u2014 40Indianapolis \u2014 35San Diego \u2014 32San Antonio \u2014 31Cleveland; Kansas City, MO \u2014 30Cincinnati; Minneapolis \u2014 29Oakland, CA; Phoenix \u2014 27Columbus, OH \u2014 26Detroit \u2014 24Louisville, KY \u2014 23Memphis, TN; Oklahoma City; Pittsburgh; Sacramento, CA \u2014 21Fort Worth, TX; Long Beach, CA; Milwaukee; Philadelphia; Portland, OR \u2014 20Dayton, OH; Jacksonville, FL \u2014 19Omaha, NE \u2014 17Miami; Rochester, NY; San Francisco \u2014 16 <\/p>\n
\nStates with the most dog attacks\n <\/p>\n
California \u2014 673Texas \u2014 358Ohio \u2014 287New York \u2014 269Pennsylvania \u2014 267Illinois \u2014 260Florida \u2014 183Missouri \u2014 182Michigan \u2014 174Indiana \u2014 159 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The postal service said employees reported more than 5,200 dog attacks in the last year. WASHINGTON \u2014 It’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-670766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}