Chungwha Post plans to make an amendment to the Rules of Processing Mail Matters (郵件處理規則) that would allow the postal service to stop delivering mail to households with animals that might attack mail carriers.
The company said the new regulation could take effect next month, once it completes required administrative procedures.
Once the company begins to implement the new rules, people with animals that have attacked mail carriers would be asked to address the situation. If the owners fail to correct the problem, they would be required to go to the post office in person to receive their mail.
According to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Department of Posts and Telecommunications, mail carriers are mostly attacked by dogs, adding that postal workers in remote areas have also been attacked by chicken, ducks or geese as well.
In the past, Chunghwa Post gave verbal warnings to the owners, which have proved to be ineffective in preventing the incidents from recurring.
The amendment would ensure the safety of mail delivery personnel, the department said.
Statics from Chunghwa Post show that mail carriers were attacked by dogs 510 times last year, with 80 percent of these cases involving house dogs.
The company’s records showed that mail carriers were attacked 596 times and 498 times in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City and Taoyuan reported the most dog attacks, with each having 74 cases recorded last year. They were followed by Taichung and Changhua County, with 54 and 53 incidents respectively.
Chunghwa Post collection and delivery section chief Lin Huang-cheng (林煌城) said that mail carriers are often bitten by pet dogs, adding that postal workers sometimes get into arguments for trying to shoo away the dogs. He said described an incident in Tainan, in which the carrier was attacked by the owner of a dog.
The Chunghwa Postal Workers’ Union said that mail carriers in some areas have made lists of addresses that have aggressive dogs as a way to remind each other that they need to be on guard when they stop by these places. Some have even taken to carrying a bat or bar to protect themselves.
On the other hand, owners often contend that their dogs do not bite people, the union said.
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