June 3 – Ohio is ranked as one of the worst states in the country for dogs biting postal workers in 2023, according to information released last week by the US Postal Service.
According to the USPS, Ohio ranked third in the number of dog bites in 2023 with 359, lagging behind the much more populous states of California and Texas.
That’s 15% more dog bites than Ohio reportedly saw in 2022, when there were 311 bites, according to USPS.
Ohio and Texas are the only states with four cities in the top 20 for dog bites, with Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton. Ohio was the only state with three cities in the top 10, with Cleveland in fifth, Cincinnati eighth and Columbus 10th.
Dayton ranked 19th in the nation in dog bites in 2023 with 23 bites, tied with Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Fort Worth, Texas. In this case, Dayton also saw much higher rates of dog bites per population, as the city reported just under 136,000 people in the 2022 census, compared to populations of just over 563,000 in Milwaukee and over 956,000 in Fort Worth.
Six Ohio cities were in the top 20 in 2022, and seven were in the top 25 in 2021. Both times, Dayton was in the top cities.
The statistics were released as part of the USPS’s National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign 2024. The campaign came after dog attacks on Postal Service employees rose to more than 5,800 cases in 2023, the USPS said.
“Letter deliverers are exposed to potential dangers every day; nothing is more common than an encounter with a dog. It only takes one interaction for a letter deliverer to potentially be injured,” said Leeann Theriault, USPS manager of employee safety and health awareness.
To keep letter carriers safe, dogs should be kept inside the house or behind a fence, away from the door in another room, or on a leash around the time the letter carrier arrives. The USPS also asked pet owners to remind children not to accept mail directly from carriers because the dog might view the carrier as a threat to the child.
The Postal Service said it is offering a free service called Informed Delivery so customers can digitally preview incoming mail and packages and help dog owners anticipate when the mail will arrive.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average insurance claim for a dog bite is $64,555. A pet owner could be responsible for medical bills, lost wages, uniform replacements and the employee’s pain and suffering, the USPS said.
Even if a letter deliverer feels unsafe, mail delivery in a particular home or neighborhood can be stopped, forcing residents to collect their mail at the post office.
“The US Postal Service consistently encourages responsible pet ownership,” Theriault said. “The National Dog Bite Campaign is an effort to raise awareness about dog bites to help keep our customers, their dogs and letter carriers safe during mail delivery.”
