Postal worker dies after being attacked by five dogs in Florida

A 61-year-old postal carrier died after being brutally attacked by five dogs in Florida over the weekend.

The woman, identified as Pamela Jane Rock of Melrose, was out delivering mail when her truck broke down in the Interlachen Lake Estates area. It was then that the dogs attacked her.

Neighbours rushed to help the woman after hearing screams for help and found her lying on the ground being attacked by the dogs. Some even tried to pull the dogs off her, but the animals did not budge. A man had to fire a rifle into the ground to scare the animals off.

The neighbours somehow managed to hold the dogs behind a fence at a nearby residence as they waited for help to arrive. Rock was flown to a trauma centre in Gainesville, Florida, where she succumbed to her wounds the next day.

A preliminary investigation revealed the dogs escaped from their owner's property by moving the rocks lining the fence, according to Putnam County Sheriff Chief Deputy Colonel Joseph Wells.

The dogs have been taken by the county's animal control unit and will be humanely euthanised. It is currently not known if their owner will also be held criminally liable for the dogs' actions.

The state of Florida considers pets an owner's personal property, which implies that an owner will be held liable if a dog bites someone.

A neighbour told the New York Times that the dogs would often jump the fence, causing chaos in the locality. They also killed a chihuahua once.

The United States Postal Service also issued a statement and said that it was "deeply saddened at the loss of our employee. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and her co-workers at this time."

In 2011, a similar incident took place in Putnam County when a 74-year-old man was brutally attacked by two dogs. Their owner had been charged with misdemeanours related to the dog attack.

A recent report from the United States Postal Service revealed its employees were attacked by dogs on more than 5,500 occasions in 2021. Florida alone reported 201 attacks last year.