Dogs, cats and even snakes made postal-related news this year.
An older dog named Tashi learned a new trick — thanks to Boulder, CO, Letter Carrier Jeff Kramer, who installed a ramp to help the 14-year-old canine easily move in and out of her owner’s house.
Elsewhere, Joe Romano and Donna Stires, two Bellmawr, NJ, employees, came to the aid of a stray kitten that got trapped inside a vehicle’s engine at the South Jersey Processing and Distribution Center.
Retail Associate Dawn Correll also received a four-legged visitor this year: a deer that strolled into the Chemung, NY, Post Office and nosed around before wandering off.
Other newsworthy animals included the baby chicks that Angola, LA, Postmaster Bryant Townsend personally delivered to customers at Eastertime and the dogs that helped Willow, AK, Retail Associate Michaela “Misha” Wiljes compete in Alaska’s famed Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Then there were those snakes.
During the summer, the Postal Inspection Service helped foil an attempt to smuggle three king cobras into the United States using potato chip cans.
“We do not want U.S. Mail used for illegal shipment of endangered animals,” said Los Angeles Postal Inspector Carl Nonas-Truong.
The Link archive has more animal stories from 2017.