Ridder's mailmen bring shockers to work

Packs of stray dogs attack mailmen in Ridder (East-Kazakhstan oblast). Mailwomen started protecting themselves from dogs, Yk-news.kz reports. Mail deliverers are carrying electric shockers. Their shockers only have the alarm signal part operable, not the electric shocking part, so that to scare off the dogs but not hurt them. “Last week I tried the shocker,” mailwoman Olga said. “I was surrounded by 5 dogs in a street. I turned the alarm on. They looked at me weirdly - it served more to surprise them rather than scare off - but they did not attack me. They stood there for a while and then they left.” Last year Ridder’s mail carriers were supplied with pepper spray bottles for self-protection. The spray bottles are meant for protection in case of an attack by people, but mailmen used the gas against dogs. “When a stray dog attacked we sprayed the gas into its eyes. While it rubbed the eyes, we managed to run away,” Olga said. “Then the gas was over in the bottles, we gave them back to our office for a refill, but never saw them again.” The oblast Kazpochta (national post company) have stopped the supplies of gas bottles. According to Ridder’s head sanitary doctor Gulmira Mirzagaraiyeva, 53 cases of dog bites have been registered since the beginning of 2012. Over a half of them were stray dogs.