Two dogs shocked by stray electricity in Toronto sidewalk
TORONTO — A pet dog is dead and another is severely hurt after both suffered an electric shock while walking with their owners in Toronto's east end Friday.
Electricity from the wiring that powers the Toronto Transit Commission's streetcars at Queen and Parliament Streets has been blamed for the incidents.
A faulty insulator in the webbing of overhead wires energized the "span wires" that hold up the overhead power supply, said TTC spokesman Brad Ross. A recently installed pole, which does not belong to the TTC, touched the energized wires, routing the current down into the sidewalk.
Dogs are more sensitive to stray electricity than people, and so when two walked over that patch of sidewalk around 2:30 p.m. Friday, they immediately began seizing and acting strange, said Toronto Police Const. Wendy Drummond.
At 2:38 p.m., police received a call reporting a woman had been bitten by a dog, and a female officer went to attend. She arrived to find the dogs "seizing and acting very peculiar."
Drummond said the officer grabbed the metal collar on one of the dogs' to help gain control of it and received a shock which shot up her arm.
She was sent to hospital with minor injuries, as was the dog's owner, said Staff Sgt. Edward Tymburski.
One dog died after being brought to a veterinary clinic, said Drummond, and the other was revived after falling unconscious.
They had passed through the same section of sidewalk within ten minutes of one another.
A Toronto Hydro investigation deemed the overhead streetcar electrical wires were at fault and the TTC stepped in to make sure the problem was fixed.
"Our sympathies to the pet owners," said Ross. When asked about potential compensation for the dogs' owners, the spokesman said "we'll do (the) right thing by the pet owners."
This isn't the first time dogs have been hit with stray sidewalk voltage in Toronto; two dogs died in late 2009 due to electricity leaking from street lamps. |
發表於 2011-3-5 07:45
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