This week was National Dog Bite Prevention Week, and the postal workers of Mississippi have said that while not often reported, there are dog-related incidents that occur between your pooch and the mail carrier.
“It’s not all dog bites,” said Doug Kyle, with the United States Postal Service. “You see mail carriers fall over dogs, or trip if they stepped back from a dog and hurt themselves. Those are dog related incidents.”
Kyle said that last year, Mississippi had 48 dog-related incidents.
“It’s important that you have your dog secured,” said Kyle. “Because in some cases, a dog that is out and about, especially if aggressive, could actually disrupt mail service for the whole area.”
While the U.S. Postal Service is known for their “rain, sleet or snow” delivery motto, they will make alterations to service if an aggressive dog is loose.
“We cannot afford to risk the safety of our mail carriers,” said Kyle.
There is one thing you can do to help. You can report an aggressive dog to the nearby postal office.
“We can take that information, and our carriers’ scanners will let them know if they are in the area where a dog-related incident has happened before,” said Kyle.
