Valley Letter Carriers Suffer Most Dog Bites

Letter carriers in the Van Nuys postal district lead the nation in dog-bite injuries, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

Between September 2000 and September of last year, letter carriers reported 85 bites in the Van Nuys district, which includes Santa Clarita and the San Fernando Valley. In the same period, postal workers in the Los Angeles district reported 42 bites. Nationwide, 3,138 were reported.

The Valley district’s total was down from the 98 reported the previous year, the postal service said.

“It’s not that the dogs are meaner in the Valley. It’s just that you have warm weather and a lot of people,” said Terri Bouffiou, a postal service spokeswoman. “People have dogs. And dogs bite people.”

Mail carrier Jill Saman was bitten in February by a pit bull near the front door of a home on her Granada Hills route.

The bite to her left thigh required seven stitches and left a three-inch scar, Saman said. She was assigned to desk work after the incident and only recently returned to delivering mail, but only at apartments and curbside mailboxes.

Saman said she began seeing a psychiatrist last month. Although she likes dogs, she said they scare her.

“Even when I’m walking down the street and I see a dog, it kind of freaks me out,” she said.

Postal officials said they hope releasing the statistics will make customers more careful with their dogs.

“Keep the dogs contained in a fenced yard. Keep them leashed if there isn’t a fence. Or keep them in the house if a carrier approaches the house,” said Cathey Sinai, a safety analyst for the postal service.