Some Ballard residents last saw one of these on their block in 2013. Credit: LESPALENIK/Shutterstock
Some Ballard residents last saw one of these on their block in 2013.
Some Ballard residents last saw one of these on their block in 2013. LESPALENIK/Shutterstock

Why have some residents along 8th Avenue NW not received mail since 2013? Because of a German Shepherd who “viciously barked” at a USPS mail carrier.

According to KING 5, Molly Tallon’s dog, Cooper, scared a mail carrier, who then suspended mail delivery to the area.

“It doesn’t feel important until it’s taken away from you,” said Molly Tallon. “We’ve missed traffic tickets. We’ve missed letters from the federal government, from the state government. We have marks on our credit because we haven’t been able to receive certain pieces of mail. Bills. All kinds of stuff.”

But get this: Cooper died in 2014. Despite presenting the dog’s death certificate and phoning in countless complaints to USPS, carriers still avoided Tallon’s block. According to USPS, dogs are actually a serious threat to mail carriers – more than 6,000 mail carriers were bitten or attacked by dogs in 2015. When those incidents occur, “delivery suspensions are sometimes needed,” KING 5 reported.

But as of Tuesday afternoon, coincidentally when KING 5 reporters were filming their news package, a mail carrier, who was apparently new to the route, finally delivered Tallon’s mail.

What’s going on in your neighborhood? Send news tips to neighborhoods@thestranger.com.

Ana Sofia Knauf reports on Neighborhoods for The Stranger. When she’s not commuting to work by bus, she’s worrying about Seattle’s rising rents, giving herself headaches thinking about race, or trying...