What do postmen fear most? You guessed it – getting attacked by dogs. According to statistics compiled by Chunghwa Post Co. Ltd., the 8,000 postmen it employs around Taiwan have been bitten by dogs more than 2,500 times in a little under three years, and 80 percent of these bites were caused by domestic dogs. Huang Ming-chuan, a teacher at National Yuanlin Chung Shih Industrial Vocational High School’s Chemical Engineering Department, did some experiments and found that dogs don’t like the smell of menthol. He suggests that if people who are scared of dogs carry bags of menthol with them, dogs will keep well clear of them.
The Chunghwa Post Workers’ Union says the dog-bite me-nace has been plaguing postmen for donkey’s years. Hsiao Ti-sheng, a senior postman who has suffered several dog bites, says that dogs can attack at any time of the day or night. Some dogs look well behaved, but when you get close to them they can suddenly catch you out with a sudden unprovoked bite attack. Postmen are worried that if they do anything in self-defense they might infringe the Animal Protection Act. Lin Tan-tao, who has been delivering mail for more than 30 years, says, “Postmen nowadays fear domestic dogs because they don’t want to get their owners upset.”
Chunghua Post urges dog owners to keep proper control of their dogs. A Council of Agriculture official says that if dog owners don’t heed repeated warnings to stop their dogs biting people, then animal protection authorities are legally empowered to confiscate the offending animals.
Photo: Wu Jen-jieh, Liberty Times （自由時報記者吳仁捷）
Chemistry teacher Mr. Huang says that he has often thought about what might be an effective way to shoo dogs off. He did some experiments on his own dog, trying cinnamon, osmanthus and dozens of other fragrances, but the dog didn’t seem to mind any of them. One day, when he was making some soothing massage balm, he noticed that his dog was keeping its distance. He tried out the ingredients on the animal one by one and found that the smell it didn’t like was menthol.
Huang put some menthol he bought from a chemical ingredient shop in cotton bags, and asked 30 students to do the experiment at home. They found out that with only five grams of menthol in the bags, 95 percent of the dogs would not come close. He then asked other teachers at school to put a little lump of menthol jelly in their home doorways, and they found that stray dogs stopped doing their thing near their doors.
Huang says that menthol is highly penetrative and stimulates skin and mucous membrane, producing a cold sensation. Dogs don’t like this smell, so when their sensitive noses pick up the minty scent wafting by, they keep well away from it.
Huang says people can buy menthol from Chinese medi-cine shops, chemical ingredient shops and western-style drugstores. The menthol can then be placed in porous bags and hung on the bags people carry, or put on the luggage hook that is usually found over the pedals of a scooter. That is sure to keep dogs away, and the hotter the weather, the better it works.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
郵差怕被狗攻擊，據中華郵政統計，全國八千名郵差，近三年內至少發生二千五百多起被狗咬傷的案子，其中八成是家犬；員林崇實高工化工科老師黃明權則實驗發現「狗兒討厭薄荷味」，怕狗民眾隨身帶個薄荷香包，狗兒自然離你遠遠的。
中華郵政工會指出，郵差被狗咬的問題存在多年，一直是郵差心中的痛。曾經被狗咬傷多次的資深郵差蕭滌生表示，狗的攻擊不分日夜與時段，有的狗看起來很乖，靠近後卻冷不防咬上一口，根本猝不及防，如果做出防衛動作，又怕犯上動物保護法。送信超過三十年的郵差林坦濤說：「現在郵差都怕家犬，因為不想得罪主人。 」
中華郵政呼籲飼主，應看好愛犬；農委會官員表示，飼主如果（家犬咬人）屢勸不聽，動保機構依法可以沒收動物。
黃明權指出，他常常在思考，有沒有什麼「驅狗妙方」。他以家中飼養的狗當實驗，試了肉桂、桂花等數十種香料，牠都不為所動。有一天，在製作舒緩油時，發現狗竟然離他遠遠的，他將幾種原料試了一下，發現狗不喜歡「薄荷味」。
黃明權老師把從化工行買來的薄荷腦放入棉袋中，請卅名學生帶回家實驗，發現只要放有約五克的薄荷腦，百分之九十五以上的狗就不再靠近了，之後又請學校老師在家門口放置一小塊薄荷腦，也發現野狗不再跑到家門口撒野了。
他說，薄荷醇具有強烈滲透作用，能刺激皮膚或黏膜而產生冷的感覺，狗兒不喜歡這種味道，當牠敏銳的嗅覺聞到這種揮發性氣味時，就會避得老遠。
他表示，民眾可到中藥行、化工行或西藥房購買薄荷腦，將買來的薄荷腦放入各種透氣材料袋。掛在包包上，或是掛在機車腳踏墊上的掛鉤，就能達到驅狗效果，天氣愈熱時，效果越好。
（自由時報記者阮怡瑜、顏若瑾）
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