LANCASTER, CA — A Lancaster letter carrier was the victim of a dog attack over the weekend, and suffered severe lacerations to her left leg and multiple bites to her right foot and lower back. The carrier required over 44 stitches to suture the wounds. The Postal Service is asking every dog owner’s assistance in preventing such attacks from taking place in the future by keeping their pets restrained.

The Postal Service sends this message to all dog owners: please make sure your pets are restrained and not allowed to roam when outside the home.

The Postal Service is not anti-dog, but is pro-responsibility. Good neighbors keep good control of their dogs. To ensure the safety of your letter carrier, if your dog is loose during delivery, your mail and your neighbors’ mail may not be delivered. Also, if your dog injures a letter carrier, you could be held financially liable.

How to be a responsible dog owner:

• Spay or neuter your pet ― dogs not neutered are more likely to bite.
• Obedience training can teach your dog proper behavior and help you to control your dog in any situation.
• For everyone’s safety, don’t allow your dog to roam.
• Make sure your dog is restrained or inside your house when your letter carrier is due to deliver the mail. Put your dog in another room and close the door if you need to open the door to interact with your carrier or any other service person.
• Don’t walk up to your letter carrier and ask for your mail when your dog is outside. Your dog may feel you are being threatened.
• Report any dogs running loose in your neighborhood to police or animal control.

The Postal Service has long taken a leadership role in educating the public about preventing dog attacks even though letter carriers are not the most likely group to be victimized. While almost 2,900 Postal Service employees sustained dog attack injuries nationally last year, almost 5 million people were bitten altogether.

For every letter carrier who is bitten, there are hundreds of children who needlessly suffer the pain and trauma of a dog bite. Children and the elderly rank #1 and #2 respectively for dog attacks. This is a very serious problem for the entire community, not just for the folks who deliver your mail.

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no direct support from taxpayers. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.