July 23, 2004

(Letter sent to the Montreal Gazette)

Dear Editor:

Your July 23rd editorial, "Letter carriers should lighten up" missed the point.

Canada Post did not send a letter of complaint to Pet Valu regarding the sale of dog treats in the shape of a letter carrier with the word MAIL on them. We received a complaint from an employee and informed the chain that the sale of these treats was offensive to some of their customers. Pet Valu advised us of their long-standing policy against the sale of dog toys that depict, or allude to, mail carriers in any way and decided to discontinue the biscuits in question.

I think we all know that dogs can't read but where you miss the point is that our concern is with pet owners who, perhaps inadvertently, make light of the fact that letter carriers are regularly attacked by dogs. In fact, since January, more than 160 dog attacks on Canada Post delivery personnel have happened across the country. Recently in Chatham Ontario a female letter carrier was attacked by two dogs and suffered two broken wrists and a severed ear. This is a serious problem.

I would have thought that a newspaper that employs delivery people would be well aware of the hazards presented by dogs on their routes and be more sensitive to the whole issue of irresponsible pet owners.

Sincerely,

John Caines
Manager, National Media Relations
Ottawa (613) 734-7675