SA Government teams up with Australia Post to prevent more dog attacks on posties

From today, letters addressed to more than 314,000 SA dog owners will be mailed out as part of a joint campaign from Australia Post and the Dog and Cat Management Board.

In the first half of this year, 114 posties were attacked by dogs in SA, while figures show more than 1000 posties are attacked across Australia each year.

The campaign comes as dog attacks in South Australia skyrocket, with 503 people presenting at a public hospital in the past year from attacks, up from 211 in 2012.

More than 1200 dog attacks were reported to South Australian councils last year but independent research suggests many more are not reported.

The state government is poised to introduce tough new laws and increased penalties for dogs owners whose pet attack people, dogs and other animals.

The Australia Post campaign letters are written from Buddy – the dog bite safety educator - who is on a mission to share practical safety messaging to keep SA’s posties safe and reduce the overall number of dog bites in SA.

Australia Post is delivering the letters free of charge; a service that would otherwise cost about $390,000 in stamps and other postage charges.

In addition to the letters, free bumper stickers and collectible dog safety leaflets featuring Buddy and his friends will be available to collect from SA post offices.

Dog and Cat Management Board Chair David Parkin said the campaign was not about demonising or stigmatising any dog, but about raising awareness on how to keep yourself, other people and our dogs safe.

"We love dogs, and it is important to protect them as well," he said.

"That’s why some of the safety messaging contains information about what we as humans can do to recognise how we might be in danger of being bitten,"

Many dog bite victims are not aware they should report attacks to their local council, even if they don’t need medical treatment. Any dog can bite and the Board is committed to raising awareness and ongoing education.

Our research has shown public awareness campaigns and ongoing education can help change people’s behaviour, but it will take time and commitment to achieve results.

The Board is committed to ongoing dog bite education for the mid to long term because dogs are part of our families—they provide more benefits than costs and our research is highlighting areas we can target to reduce bites.

Australia Post General Manager, Safety and Wellbeing Rod Maule said at Australia Post, the safety of its staff was paramount, which is why they were proud to be partnering with the state government on this important initiative.

"With our posties out and about delivering in the community every day, they are at unfortunately risk of dog attacks," he said.

"In fact, 1 in 3 dog related incidents involving posties occurs at a customer’s front door during a parcel delivery.

"With the help of the SA government, Australia Post is utilising its extensive network within the state to deliver more than 300,000 personally addressed letters to dog owners, to help educate the community on how they can help prevent our posties from falling victim to dog-related incidents.

"Australia Post and the SA government are calling on dog owners to take responsibility for their pets and learn how they can minimise the risk of dog-related incidents on our team members and the SA community."

Three short, animated videos of Buddy demonstrating the warning signs that dogs give before they bite, and explaining reasons why dogs sometimes bite, have been uploaded to the government’s dog bite safety website Good dogs have bad days.

Posties will not deliver to a home or business unless it is safe for them to do so and will stop delivering to an address until there is no more danger.

Australia Post also reports dog-related incidents to local councils to ensure enforcement is actioned.