U.S. dog bite capital
L.A. leads nation in canine attacks on postal carriers
United States Postal Service worker Meri Larson stopped in front of a wooden fence in San Pedro and moved her satchel to the front of her body like a shield as she peeked into the yard of the home.
“She’s not here,” Larson said of the dog along her mail route.
The precaution was part of a training session she and dozens of others received Thursday to help mail carriers avoid dog attacks.
The training came a day after the federal agency announced that Los Angeles had won the unflattering distinction of compiling the most dog attacks against mail carriers in the country last year. It also comes just before National Dog Bite Prevention Week.
“‘Don’t worry — my dog won’t bite’ is often heard by our letter carriers before they’re attacked,” said Ken Snavely, postmaster for Los Angeles. “Given the right circumstances, any dog can bite.”
Last year, the agency said, it documented 74 dog attacks against postal workers in the city, an increase from the 61 incidents that were recorded in 2013.
In Orange County and Los Angeles County, the total number of such attacks was 416, compared to 309 the year before.
Trailing Los Angeles in the rankings are Houston, with 62 dog attacks; San Diego with 47; Chicago with 45; and Dallas with 43.
In drought-parched Los Angeles, neither sleet nor snow nor rain present a larger obstacle to the mail carrier than the dog. Of course, in popular American culture, dog versus postal worker almost ranks with cat versus mouse, the subject of cartoons, car commercials, movies, TV shows and books.
But if it’s a cliche, there’s a reason: Cases of dogs attacking or snapping or snarling at mail carriers occur frequently.
Across the country, 5,767 postal employees were attacked by a dog in 2014.
“It’s the No. 1 hazard,” according to postal worker Fernando Diego, 55, who said he has been bitten twice during his 34 years on the job.
A few years ago, Snavely said, one mail carrier died of a head injury he received from a fall during a dog attack in San Diego.
Two years ago, he said, another carrier in Escondido was injured in an attack.
“The dog took a bite to his throat,” Snavely said. “He almost died.”
Diego said that when he had been on the job for eight years, a dog “tried to bite my groin and my neck.”
Allen Burnsworth, a dog trainer who was brought in to teach mail carriers to avoid being attacked, told employees to never look at a dog in the eye, be observant of the property they are entering and use magazines or a satchel as a barrier.
“If a dog bites you, bring it closer,” Burnsworth told the employees, who all shook their heads and laughed. “Yeah, I know, it’s counterintuitive, but if you bring it closer, you can control the weapon.”
Back on her mail route, Larson ignored the barking dogs as she delivered mail.
“I have a Buddhist attitude toward them,” she said.
Sitting on the porch of her single-story home, Jamie Aponte, 49, said she has admiration for Larson, her mail carrier.
“I couldn’t put up with all those dogs,” she said, laughing. “I’d be scared all the time.”