Dog Attacks on Postal Workers Reach Seven-Year High

The long-held belief that dogs and postal workers are adversaries is supported by recent data. The United States Postal Service (USPS) has reported a surge in dog attacks on its employees, reaching a seven-year high. The Midwest region is experiencing the highest number of these incidents.

Last year, the Postal Service documented over 6,000 dog attacks on mail carriers. This announcement was made in advance of the USPS's National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign. The frequency of these attacks has not been this elevated since 2017. Compared to 2023, attacks have increased by 5 percent, and by 15 percent compared to 2022.

In 2024, the Midwest saw an average of approximately five dog attacks per 100,000 households. The states with the highest rates of these attacks include Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio.

With nearly 49 million American households owning dogs, according to 2021 Census Bureau data, and over 326,000 mail carriers in the U.S., as of 2022, interactions between postal workers and pets are inevitable.

Tragically, in 2022, a 61-year-old Florida postal worker, Pamela Jane Rock, died after being attacked by five dogs. Despite a neighbor's attempt to intervene by firing shots, the attack was not stopped, and Rock later died in the hospital.

More recently, a 48-year-old mail carrier in Connecticut was hospitalized after a dog attack. The postal worker sustained bites to multiple areas of his body.

A USPS spokesperson acknowledged the rise in dog attacks as a "real problem." He emphasized that dogs can bite instinctively and that even a single misstep can lead to injury for mail carriers. The spokesperson urged dog owners to be responsible and to train their dogs to behave appropriately.