The U.S. Postal Service is asking for help from dog owners to keep mail carriers safe, especially in Los Angeles since the city comes in second nationwide with the most dog bites to letter carriers.
The 2022 dog bite national ranking report released by USPS lists L.A. with 48 bites, and Houston Texas came out on top with 57 dog bites reported.
The USPS is bringing attention to the prevalence of dog bites in hopes to keep letter carriers safe while delivering mail to homes. More than 5,300 Postal Service employees were attacked by dogs while delivering the mail last year.
“Even good dogs have bad days,” is this year’s theme for the U.S. Postal Service’s dog safety awareness campaign which runs June 4 through June 10.
The organization acknowledges that mail carriers know all dogs can bite, even ones perceived as nonaggressive, and generally dogs are protective of their turf.
Since most people know the approximate time their mail is delivered daily, USPS is asking dog owners to keep dogs inside the house or behind a fence around the time of delivery, away from the door or in another room, or on a leash.
And since dogs are generally protective of children, when a dog is near USPS advises not to let children take mail from the letter carrier as a dog may see the carrier as a threat to the child.
National 2022 dog bite rankings released by USPS:
City State Rank
HOUSTON TX 57 1
LOS ANGELES CA 48 2
DALLAS TX 44 3
CLEVELAND OH 43 4
SAN DIEGO CA 39 5
CHICAGO ON 36 6
ST. LOUIS MO 34 7
KANSAS CITY MO 33 8
PHOENIX AZ 32 9
SAN ANTONIO TX 32 9
DETROIT MI 30 10
PHILADELPHIA PA 28 11
LOUISVILLE KY 26 12
COLUMBUS OH 23 13
MINNEAPOLIS MN 22 14
