The United States Postal Service is urging pet owners to be responsible as part of their week-long dog bite awareness campaign.
KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian took a walk with Carlos Paragua, a mail carrier in Gardena, to learn more about how they protect themselves. He said mailmen carry a loud dog horn to scare aggressive dogs away.
Letter carriers experienced more than 65 dog bites in L.A. in the last year, the most attacks reported out of any U.S. city.
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In his mail route, there’s a lot of dogs – mostly pit bulls and German Shepherds. Paragua said he was once bitten by a German Shepherd on duty.
Luwanda Smith, the postmaster in Gardena, said in order to help protect letter carriers, she has issued them dog spray in addition to the dog horns. Mail carriers also have scanners with them.
“In our scanners, we put messages in, letting them know 50 feet away that there's a hazard, there's a dog hazard at their residence so they are aware of it,” Smith said.
She asked people to secure their dogs or put them in another room if a mail carrier is coming to the door with a package.
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