- Work with your employees to stage a 30-minute event in a public area inside or outside the Post Office™, just before carriers depart for their routes. Ask which employees would be willing to show their scars and tell their stories about encounters with vicious animals. It’s their opportunity to help customers, friends, and neighbors protect themselves and their children from similar pain.
- Consider inviting someone from the local animal shelter, humane society, or pet trainers to talk about animal safety and responsible pet ownership. Providing a local animal shelter representative to speak to the community about animal behavior and dog bites gives the “third-party endorsement” reporters use to validate news stories.
- If you are in a smaller community, think about partnering with neighboring postmasters to hold a joint event. You’ll have more examples, and you will be able to interest media from surrounding communities.
- Complete and mail the news release along with the Dog Bite Prevention Background material 2 weeks out, and the media advisory 2 days before and on the morning of your event. You can also use the facts in the release to share brief remarks about the impact of dog bites on the Postal Service.
- Give newspaper editors and television assignment editors a call between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. a couple of days before the event as a followup to your original news release. You can also send the media advisory as another reminder. Just one note about a typical news day: Editors are usually making assignments in the morning and will be busy in the afternoon as their deadlines approach. Late-morning calls are usually better. Just in case the editor asks for more information, have the news release and media advisory available before you make your telephone calls.
- Ask the editor if he or she would be interested in covering a photo opportunity of letter carriers lining up chorus line style to display their dog bite scars. You can create more interest if you describe dog bites as a community issue and not a Postal Service problem. Tell the editor that small children represent the majority of victims and are estimated to be 900 times more likely to be victimized by dog attacks than letter carriers.
- Be sure to add that this is a good opportunity for the public to learn how to avoid dog bites, and an opportunity for dog owners to learn how to reduce the risk of their dog attacking someone.
- Designate an area in the parking lot for camera crews and have an alternative location in case it rains. Give your remarks, introduce your carriers, and provide a bit of detail on their dog attack experience. Then introduce the local animal shelter representative, who will speak about dog behavior and about dog bites in the community. Just before your letter carriers are ready to leave for their routes, ask them to stand shoulder to shoulder and hold out their legs and/or arms to display dog bite scars. You can even add music. At this point you’ll probably see camera crews and photographers move in for close-up shots.
- After a couple of minutes, when the activity starts to slow down, inform the media that the letter carriers are available to talk about dog bites and how to avoid them. But remind them they have only a few minutes, as the carriers must leave to deliver the mail. If reporters ask to follow a letter carrier on the route, be sure to select someone who will represent your office well.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: [Insert Your Name]
[Insert Date] [Insert Your Phone Number]
Internet: www.usps.com
News Release
A Different Kind of Chorus Line
[Your City] — A different kind of chorus line will be staged in a rather unusual setting on [Date] promptly at [Time]. It’s all part of the Postal Service’s annual National Dog Bite Prevention Week program. To help their customers — especially the youngest ones — Postal Service™ letter carriers at the [Name of Office] at [Address of Office] are kicking up their heels and waving their arms to show the community the importance of preventing animal attacks.
While the country has become increasingly focused in the past year on the tragic injuries and deaths resulting from dog attacks, the Postal Service has been at the forefront of this issue for decades.
At one time experiencing as many as 7,000 dog bite injuries to its letter carriers in a year, the Postal Service partnered with the Humane Society of the United States and other interested parties to teach people how to avoid dog attacks and how to protect themselves if an attack occurs. In recent years, a strong emphasis has also been placed on educating the public about responsible pet ownership.
Between September 2005 and September 2006, the Postal Service recorded 3,184 OSHA dog bite-related injuries to letter carriers. While that number is disturbing, the most frequent victims of dog attacks are children. American children suffer an average of two million dog bite injuries every year.
“That’s why our letter carriers have agreed to start ‘dancing in the street’ to show the community their scars, share their stories and help their customers avoid the kind of pain they have already suffered,” said Postmaster [Postmaster’s Name].
In addition to the letter carrier chorus line [List any other officials who will participate in the event. For example, a safety or animal expert who can talk about how to avoid attacks and what to do if one occurs]. [Attach Dog Bite Prevention Background.]
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