USPS raises awareness of dogs biting mail carriers

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — To raise awareness of the 119 dog bites against postal workers in Kentucky and West Virginia so far this year, the United States Postal Service (USPS) held an awareness event in Morgantown Thursday morning.

“We’ve got another month and some change to go, so we’re looking at roughly 125 or so that we’ll have for this fiscal year,” USPS District Safety Manager Alan Lewis said. He added that 113 bites occurred last year “so it’s important for us to learn how to better educate our customers so that we can provide the services they need to do it safely.”

Dog Bite Prevention Expert Hector Hernandez said that the purpose behind this training is so that mail carriers know how to protect themselves in the event of a dog attack while doing their job. He said that although it’s important to address these carriers, he really wants to contact the homeowners because they’re the ones who can make sure people don’t get bitten.

“Make sure you manage your dog, make sure to control your dog,” said Hernandez. “Make sure you don’t set your dog up to fail.”

Hernandez said that the biggest tip he would provide to letter carriers is to always look at the dog and walk backwards until they escape. “If you’re not looking at your threat, you’re missing out, you’re gonna get hurt. Always look at the dog, walk backwards.”

Hernandez added that the second biggest tip he would offer is to always bring something with you to protect yourself so that if a dog does decide to bite, their teeth will sink into the item instead of the mail carrier.

According to Hernandez, dog bites are increasing because there’s been a spike in people owning dogs. “So yes it’s gonna rise, this is why I don’t like to be here for the post office. I wanna be talking to the people, not the letter carriers.”

Lewis said that it’s important for homeowners to understand that USPS is trying to provide a service to them, but it’s important for them to be able to do so safely. “So when you see the carriers out, put your dog up and away to where the dog can’t escape out of your control,” he added.

“If you have a loose dog or dog outside, same thing. Have your dogs controlled,” Lewis said. “We want our carriers to be able to deliver to you safely and if they cannot or if their safety is questioned in any way while they’re making a delivery, they’re not going to deliver.”

According to Lewis, USPS has been traveling across West Virginia throughout the week to hold these informational sessions. He added that the week prior, Hernandez took another week to visit Kentucky sites as well.

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