MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The above video originally aired on March 27, 2024.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ranked Minneapolis in its national top 20 list of cities with the most dog attacks on mail carriers.
Minneapolis had 27 dog bites last year, according to new USPS data. Minneapolis was the 15th-worst city in the country for dog attacks on mail carriers.
By comparison, the top five looked like this:
- Los Angeles with 65
- Houston with 56,
- Chicago with 48
- St. Louis with 46
- Cleveland with 44
Nationwide, incidents involving dogs attacking USPS employees rose to more than 5,800 cases last year.
As part of the USPS 2024 National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign (Sunday, June 2 to Sunday, June 9) the organization is reminding dog owners how they can ensure safe mail delivery.
USPS said most dog owners know the approximate time their mail carrier arrives every day and should remember to have their pets secured.
"Letter carriers are exposed to potential hazards every day, none more prevalent than a canine encounter. All it takes is one interaction for a letter carrier to possibly suffer an injury," Leeann Theriault, USPS Manager, Employee Safety and Health Awareness said in a news release. "The U.S. Postal Service consistently encourages responsible pet ownership. The national dog bite campaign is an effort to promote dog bite awareness to keep our customers, their dogs, and letter carriers safe while delivering the mail."
USPS offers these tips of what to do when the mail carrier comes to your home:
- Keep dog inside the house or behind a fence
- Keep pet away from the door or in another room
- If dog is outside make sure they are on a leash
- Remind children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier as the dog may view the carrier as a threat to the child
"Even though a customer's dog is friendly to most people, it can always have a bad day," USPS employee Tara Snyder said in the news release. "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."
The top 20 list consists of 30 cities, as some cities reported the same number of bites.
Rank, city and bites:
1. Los Angeles 65
2. Houston 56
3. Chicago 48
4. St. Louis 46
5 Cleveland 44
6. San Diego 41
7. Dallas 39
8. Cincinatti 38
9. Philadelphia 34
10. Columbus 33
11. Kansas City 32
12. Indianapolis 33
13. Memphis 29
14. Louisville 28
15. Minneapolis 27
16. Albuquerque 26
16. San Antonio 26
16. Sacramento 26
17. Milwaukee 23
17. Dayton 23
17. Fort Worth 23
18. Miami 21
18. Denver 21
18. Omaha 21
19. Buffalo 20
19. San Francisco 20
20. Long Beach 19
20. Tulsa 19
20. Portland 19
20. Detroit 19
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