The U.S. Postal Service released the list of the states and cities where its workers suffered the most dog bites in 2023, ahead of an awareness week beginning Sunday.
There were more than 5,800 dog attacks on postal workers in 2023, USPS said Thursday. Such attacks are the most common hazard faced by mail carriers, USPS Manager of Employee Safety and Health Awareness Leeann Theriault said.
Los Angeles had the most incidents, at 65, followed by Houston with 56, Chicago with 48, St. Louis with 46, Cleveland with 44, San Diego with 41, Dallas at 39, Cincinnati at 38, Philadelphia at 34 and Columbus at 33.
California had the most dog bites by far at 727, an increase of 52 incidents from 2022. The state with the second-most was Texas at 411, an increase of only seven incidents compared to 2022.
Rounding out the top 10 states for dog bites are Ohio with 359, Pennsylvania with 334, Illinois at 316, New York with 296, Florida with 193, North Carolina with 185, Michigan with 183 and Missouri at 180.
Those numbers generally track with the largest states and cities, but do not do so entirely. For example, 10th-placed Missouri is only the 18th-largest state by population. And New York state and New York City both rank lower than their populations would suggest.
USPS warns dog owners that the average cost of an insurance claim by the victim of a dog bite is $$64,555. Owners of the attacking dogs could also be liable for medical bills, lost wages due to time spent recovering, uniform replacement, and damages for pain and suffering.
USPS also asks that dog owners keep their canines inside the house, behind a fence, in a room or on a leash. Doors, the agency said, are not a sufficient barrier.
“Even though a customer’s dog is friendly to most people, it can always have a bad day. I know, from experience, even when a dog is in the house, customers need to make sure their door is secure so their dog can’t push it open and bite the letter carrier,” mail carrier Tara Snyder said in the announcement.
Carriers also have the right to withhold service if they think a house or neighborhood is repeatedly unsafe due to violent dogs. In those cases, homeowners or neighborhood residents have to instead go to the post office to pick up their mail.
If the dangerous dog is not gotten under control, USPS said, its owner could be required to pay and rent their own box at the post office in order to receive mail.
Some dog attacks can end in death. In August 2022, a 61-year-old mail carrier in Florida was mauled to death by a pack of five dogs, despite the owner’s attempts to secure his property with a fence reinforced by logs, cinder blocks and other materials.
The owner was not found liable due to his efforts to block the dogs from getting out and rejections of earlier efforts to hand them over to the animal control department, according to WJXT-TV.
In 2012, another postal worker died days after being bitten by a pair of dogs in Delaware, according to the Associated Press.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.