Columbus ranks 8th nationally in dog attacks on US Postal Service workers

COLUMBUS (WCMH) – It was a bad year for mail carriers getting bitten by dogs, and Columbus was one of the worst offenders.

The US Postal Service annual report for 2015 showed Columbus was the 8th-worst city for mail carriers being attacked by dogs. Last year, there were 43 dog attacks reported. That’s nearly double, up 95-percent, from the previous year’s number of 22 attacks.

Houston took over the worst city rank, with 77 attacks on mail carriers. San Diego and Cleveland tied for 2nd, followed by a Chicago-Dallas tie. Los Angeles, Louisville, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Portland and Fort Worth-San Antonio also made the top 10.

Other Ohio cities also made the list. Cincinnati was ranked 18th with 28 attacks, Dayton was 23rd with 22 attacks and Toledo was ranked 30th with 15 attacks.

In all, 6,549 postal employees were attacked by dogs in 2015. A total of 51 cities made the Top 30 list (many cities had ties).

“Dogs are protective in nature and may view our letter carriers handing mail to their owner as a threat,” said USPS Safety Director Linda DeCarlo.

The postal service has the following tips for dog owners to prevent future attacks:

If a letter carrier delivers mail or packages to your front door, place your dog in a separate room and close that door before opening the front door. Dogs have been known to burst through screen doors or plate-glass windows to get at strangers.
Dog owners should keep the family dog secured. Parents should remind their children not to take mail directly from letter carriers in the presence of the family pet as the dog may view the letter carrier handing mail to a child as a threatening gesture.
The Postal Service places the safety of its employees as a top priority. If a letter carrier feels threatened by a vicious dog or if a dog is running loose, the owner may be asked to pick up the mail at the Post Office until the carrier is assured the pet has been restrained. If the dog is roaming the neighborhood, the pet owner’s neighbors may be asked to pick up their mail at the Post Office as well.

2015 Dog Attack Rankings by City

Ranking	City, State	2015 Dog Attacks	2014 Dog Attacks	Change	Percent Change
1	Houston, TX	77	63	14	22
2	San Diego, CA Cleveland, OH	58	47 37	11 21	23 57
3	Chicago, IL Dallas, TX	57	46 43	11 14	24 33
4	Los Angeles, CA	56	75	-19	-25
5	Louisville, KY	51	40	11	28
6	Kansas City, MO	46	32	14	44
7	Philadelphia, PA	44	33	11	33
8	Columbus, OH	43	22	21	95
9	Portland, OR	41	31	10	32
10	Fort Worth, TX San Antonio, TX	39	26 24	13 15	50 63
11	Denver, CO	38	40	-2	-5
12	Phoenix, AZ	36	35	1	3
13	St. Louis, MO	35	39	-4	-10
14	Seattle, WA	34	29	5	17
15	Detroit, MI Long Beach, CA	32	28 27	4 5	14 19
16	Indianapolis, IN Sacramento, CA	31	35 29	-4 2	-11 7
17	Minneapolis, MN Baltimore, MD	30	33 27	-3 3	-9 11
18	Miami, FL Cincinnati, OH	28	26 24	2 4	8 17
19	Brooklyn, NY	26	15	11	73
20	San Francisco, CA	25	23	2	9
21	San Jose, CA Albuquerque, NM St. Paul, MN	24	20 16 6	4 8 18	20 50 300
22	Oakland, CA Milwaukee, WI	23	22 11	1 12	5 109
23	Charlotte, NC Dayton, OH	22	23 18	-1 4	-4 22
24	Las Vegas, NV	21	19	2	11
25	Pittsburgh, PA Jacksonville, FL	20	22 10	-2 10	-9 100
26	Rochester, NY Fresno, CA Stockton, CA	19	18 17 9	1 2 10	6 12 111
27	Wichita, KS Flushing, NY Baton Rouge, LA	18	25 14 9	-7 4 9	-28 29 100
28	Memphis, TN	17	13	4	31
29	Richmond, VA Salt Lake City, UT	16	17 9	-1 7	-6 78
30	New Orleans, LA Omaha, NE Des Moines, IA Toledo, OH	15	19 14 11 10	-4 1 4 5	-21 7 36 50