American Veterinary Medical Association: Teach Kids How to Deal with Dogs

Last year, 5,767 postal carriers were bitten by dogs, up from 5,581 in 2013, and the most attacks happened in warm and sunny Los Angeles, Houston and San Diego, said Linda DeCarlo, manager of safety for the U.S. Postal Service. None of the bites caused deaths.

The cities’ weather draws pets and people outside and doors and windows get left open, DeCarlo said. The slight rise in bites also stems from the popularity of online shopping because postal workers must bring packages to front doors instead of street-side mailboxes, DeCarlo said.

But the biggest victims are children and senior citizens, who can be overpowered by dogs. Of the 4.5 million people bitten every year, more than half are kids, said Dr. Jose Arce, an American Veterinary Medical Association board member.

Bites kill about 16 people a year. Besides the postal-worker totals, specific numbers on dog bites are lacking because few people seek treatment. And no one tracks bites by breed.

What Not to Do

• Stare into a dog’s eyes.

• Tease a dog.

• Approach one that’s chained up or injured.

• Touch a dog you don’t know that’s off a leash.

• Run or scream if one charges.

• Play with a dog while it’s eating.

• Touch one while it’s sleeping.

• Get close to one that’s nursing puppies.

• Leave a small child alone with a dog, even if it’s the family pet.

What to Do

• Ask an owner before petting a dog you don’t know.

• Let the dog sniff your closed fist before touching it.

• Freeze if a dog runs toward you.

• Socialize puppies so they are comfortable around people and other animals.

• Use a leash in public.

How Parents Can Help

When the mail arrives, place your pet in a closed room so it can’t go through a window or screen door to possibly attack the carrier. Tell children not to take mail from the carrier in front of the dog because the animal could see it as threatening.

Also, teach children to treat dogs with respect and avoid rough or aggressive play.

Where Bites Happened

Last year, 74 postal-carrier bites were reported in Los Angeles, followed by Houston with 62 and San Diego with 47, DeCarlo said.

The LA tally rose from 61 bites in 2013, when Houston was No. 1 with 63. San Diego moved up a notch from two years ago, when 53 postal workers were bitten.

The Postal Service didn’t break down the severity of injuries, but 1,540 bites kept employees from work for at least a day after the attack, DeCarlo said.

Insurance Payouts

Bites and other dog-related injuries cost insurers $530 million last year, about a third of their paid claims, the Insurance Information Institute said.

The number of dog-bite claims decreased 4.7 percent from 2013, but the average cost per claim rose by 15 percent because of higher medical costs and settlements. The average claim in 2014 was $32,072, up from $27,862.

Northwest Native American Tribes' Annual Lamprey Harvest at a Rushing, 40-Foot Waterfall About 15 Miles South of Portland

Oregon City, Oregon - They dove into the cold waters, emerging with writhing, eel-like fish in hand and thrusting them into nets.

Thus began Northwest Native American tribes' annual lamprey harvest at a rushing, 40-foot waterfall about 15 miles south of Portland.

The jawless, gray fish are a traditional food source for tribal members in the Columbia River Basin, which stretches from the Oregon coast to Canada and into Idaho, Montana and Washington. Lampreys grow to about 2 feet long and are prized for their rich, fatty meat.

On Friday, adults, teens and children from the Umatilla and Warm Springs reservations in Oregon and the Yakama reservation in Washington crawled over slippery rocks and waded through icy pools to reach the lampreys' hiding spots. The fish latch onto rocks in Willamette Falls with their round, toothy mouths.

"Our people have always come here, generation after generation," said Bobby Begay, a Warm Springs tribal member who drove more than a 100 miles to the falls from his village of Celilo.

Begay, 46, has attended the harvest for more than 40 years. He is teaching his children and nephews how to navigate the rocks and where to find the biggest catch.

"The same fishing holes my grandfather showed me, his father and grandfather showed him, and I showed my kids," he said.

Lampreys taste best when roasted over an open fire, Begay said. They also can be dried or frozen for later use. The fish harvested this month will be distributed to tribal elders and used for ceremonial purposes, he said.

In previous generations, lampreys were abundant up and down the Columbia River and its tributaries. Biologists have estimated at least a million once were crossing Bonneville Dam on the Columbia east of Portland.

But their numbers have dwindled over the past 30 years because of the dams and toxins such as pesticides. About 20,000 remain, said Brian McIlraith with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

Willamette Falls is the last place where the fish can be caught by the hundreds.

Tribes have been instrumental in advocating for lamprey restoration, and the government has started paying attention. That's because lampreys also offer an alternate food source for sea lions and other predators that otherwise would be munching on threatened salmon.

Tribes have received funding and run research and recovery projects. They truck lampreys past dams and have pushed for construction of ramps to help the fish navigate the structures.

They're also looking at breeding lampreys in a hatchery, but that's not the preferred method, said tribal elder Donnie Winishut Sr., who observed the harvest to assure safety.

"We would rather see them grow in a natural way," Winishut said. "It's good to see the young people coming to the falls and learning our tradition, and I hope they can continue coming here to catch the fish."

Thousands of Tuna Crabs Have Invaded the Beaches of San Diego Bay

The thumb-sized crustaceans started washing ashore further up the California coast earlier this year, but turned up this week in San Diego in unusually larger numbers, officials said.

They’ve washed ashore periodically over the years because of any number of natural effects, but research scientist Michael Shane of the Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego cited El Nino as the phenomenon that might have pushed the crabs up from their normal habitat far offshore.

The result is certain death and nothing can be done to save the crabs.

“The crabs start to die because the local waters are much cooler,” Shane told ABC News today. “Local animals have begun to eat the crabs and they have been found in the gut contents of sea lions, fish, and birds.”

The remaining carcasses will remain on the shore until they decompose or are swept back into the water.

According to a Yearlong Investigation: Dog Bites Are on the Rise in the Washington, DC Area

A fast-rising number of people in the Washington, D.C. area are suffering dog bites or encountering illegally owned pit bulls, according to a yearlong investigation by the News4 I-Team.

The increases, which are sharp and sudden, are partly the result of neglectful owners or people who fail to follow local animal control laws, the I-Team learned in a series of reviews of animal control reports and interviews with animal control officers.

D.C. Department of Health reports, obtained and reviewed by the I-Team, show the number of dog bite incidents in the city has jumped more than 100 percent since 2007. That increase, from 214 bites in 2007 to 457 bites in 2013, is raising alarm among some city residents.

The city’s animal and human populations have increased during the same time span. Field investigators with the Washington Humane Society, which responds to animal complaints in D.C., report some of the increase can also be attributed to owners who neglect to follow leash laws or prevent dogs from straying.

John Fenner, a resident of northeast D.C., said a pair of stray pit bulls attacked him on a sidewalk in his neighborhood in 2013. He suffered a pair of bites to his groin. “If you have an animal not on a leash, not monitored, you cannot actually predict how they behave,” he said.

Prince George’s County Animal Control officials said the number of stray dogs has plateaued in the county. But the I-Team’s review of county animal shelter reports shows a 150 percent increase in the number of pit bull seizures since 2009. Pit bulls are an unlawful breed of dog to own in the county. Those seizures, up from 192 five years ago to 427 last year, are also an indication of pet owners who neglect to follow local animal control laws, officials said.

Rodney Taylor, associate director of the county’s Animal Management Division, said his shelter in Upper Marlboro houses 30 to 35 pit bulls each day. “They’re illegal,” Taylor said. “You cannot have them. (This problem) goes back to the owner.”

In a series of reviews of D.C. and Prince George’s County animal control operations, conducted over 12 months, the I-Team witnessed a long series of animal control officer responses to stray dogs and pit bull calls. In several instances, stray dogs ran free on busy D.C. and Maryland streets.

A spokesman for the Washington Humane Society said the increase in reported bites is at least partly attributable to his organization’s role investigating dog complaints, which began in 2011, he said. “We’ve heightened the community’s awareness about animal problems,” he said. “People recognized that we have a structured reporting program.”

During cold winter mornings and hot summer afternoons, the I-Team spotted animals placed outdoors in yards for extended periods of time. Those issues of neglect can lead to biting incidents, animal control officers reported.

The I-Team’s review found the number of animal control calls has sharply increased in D.C. Animal control officers responded to more than 18,000 calls in the city last year, a 3,000 call increase since 2010.