Post Office promotes National Dog Bite Prevention Week

Post offices around the country are gearing up to promote National Dog Bite Prevention Week, May 15 to 21. Letter carriers are the third largest group of Americans to be bitten by dogs nationwide. Children and the elderly are first and second.

Last year, more than 3,000 letter carriers nationwide were attacked and injured by dogs according to an article in the on-line edition of a Massachusetts newspaper, the Tewksbury Advocate.

The USPS reports an average of 11 letter carriers suffer dog-related injuries each delivery day. Many of the bites reported occurred despite pet owners' insistence that their dogs would not bite. Postal officials are encouraging dog owners to keep their pets inside or tied-up during mail delivery times.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has a variety of suggestions on preventing dog bites on their web site, http://www.avma.org/pubhlth/dogbite/dogbitebroc.asp.