LOUISVILLE, KY — The U.S. Postal Service continues its tradition of calling attention to one of the nation’s most commonly reported public health problems: dog attacks and bites. From nips and bites to actual attacks, violent dog behavior continues to pose a serious threat to our employees.
To emphasize the enormity of this issue, we are now reporting total attacks and dog bites as one number. Last year, nearly 5,600 Postal Service employees were victimized by dogs. But that number pales in comparison to the more than 2 million children who received dog bite injuries in a single year.
Last year, 31 carriers were bitten in Louisville, ranking it 10th in the nation for dog bites. And just last week, a Louisville rural letter carrier sustained serious injuries when she was attacked by a pit bull. “Several of our letter carriers know first-hand about both the prevention and the pain of animal attacks,” says acting Louisville Postmaster Jenny Bennett. “Therefore, we want to do whatever we can to help educate the community — especially parents and pet owners.”
This year ’s National Dog Bite Prevention Week is May 19–25. Sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service, National Dog Bite Prevention Week is a public service campaign that offers safety tips and emphasizes the need for increased owner responsibility in the prevention of dog attacks.
An officer with Metro Animal Control will be at the Pleasure Ridge Park Station, 6121 Greenwood Road, at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, May 17, to help kick off the campaign by sharing safety tips with letter carriers.
“If a dog attacks a letter carrier, pet owners can be held liable for all medical expenses and other costs which can run into thousands of dollars,” said Bennett. “Pet owners should know their fence isn’t the only protection they will need — especially if a letter carrier must enter their yard.”
The Postal Service isn’t anti-dog, but pro-responsibility,” added Bennett. “Customers can help protect not only letter carriers but also meter readers, newspaper delivery persons, and neighbors’ children by making sure their pets are properly restrained.”
# # #
Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.
For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.
Follow the Postal Service on Twitter @USPS and at Facebook.com/usps
