1.
SVs: dogs and postman (6 shots)
0.18

2.
SCUs: postman spraying bicycle with anti-dog spray. (2 shots)
0.27

3.
SVs: postman interviewed. (3 shots)
0.48

4.
CU AND GV: Postman cycling away followed by dogs. (2 shots)
1.15


REPORTER: "Do you find that spraying your bicycle like this does any good?"



POSTMAN: "Oh, some dogs it does. On others it doesn't affect, where dogs actually come up and try and lick it off.



REPORTER: "What's the worse occasion you've had?"



POSTMAN: "Oh, a Great Dane it was. It was over the Gerlimba area when he grabbed me and he wouldn't let me go and the woman in the house had to come out and get if off me. Lucky for me he didn't have much pressure on me."



REPORTER: "Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have been a great success. Indeed one postman told me that when he sprayed it on his trousers it turned him into a pied piper and the dogs followed him everywhere. Now they're wondering what to do next. And many posites say they'll soon refuse to deliver the mail to what they describe as highly dangerous areas."




Initials RH/AB/DK/1555



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Australia the Postmaster-General's Department is using a chemical spray to try to break up an antagonistic relationship between postmen and dogs who've been trying to stop the mail getting through. But although the man-versus-beast epidemic has spread nationwide, a reporter found that it doesn't look like chemical warfare is the answer.

SYNOPSIS: In Brisbane's housing estates for instance they've bitten a total of two hundred postmen in the past twelve months. In the whole of Australia in the same period over one thousand postmen needed medical attention. Now postmen are using a chemical which is supposed to keep the dogs at bay.