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- Over 5,800 mail carriers were attacked by dogs in 2020, according to the US Postal Service.
- Houston, Texas was the city with the most dog attacks on USPS employees last year.
- California was the state with the most dog bites on US postal workers.
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More than 5,800 US Postal Service letter carriers were attacked by dogs across the nation in 2020, the agency said.
"From nips and bites to vicious attacks, aggressive dog behavior poses a serious threat to postal employees and the general public," the USPS said in a press release.
Houston, Texas ranked No. 1 in the country as the city with most dog attacks on USPS employees last year with a total of 73 incidents, data released by the agency shows.
Chicago, Los Angeles, and Cleveland took the second, third and fourth spots on the list with 59, 54, and 46 dog attacks on mail carriers, respectively.
For the second year in a row, California took the top spot for the state with the largest number of dog attacks on USPS workers with a total of 782 attacks, according to the agency.
The other top 10 states that experienced the highest number of dogs incidents were:
- Texas with 402
- Ohio with 369
- New York with 295
- Pennsylvania with 291
- Illinois with 290
- Michigan with 253
- Florida with 198
- New Jersey with 179
- and Virginia with 169.
The USPS advised that pet owners should caution their children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier "as the dog may view the carrier as a threat."
Pet owners should also keep their dogs inside the house or behind a fence, and on a leash when a mail carrier visits the home, the Postal Service said.