A Southie woman says her dog was fatally electrocuted on a city sidewalk
“I am heartbroken, and I don't want this to happen to any other dog or person.”
A South Boston woman says her dog was fatally electrocuted by stray voltage while walking on a city sidewalk last month.
Mary Beth Begley told Boston.com in an email that she and her hound, Bob, were walking along Southampton Street on Jan. 30, heading to a training class they regularly attended at The Pawsitive Dog.
The pair were about 50 to 100 yards away from the business when, suddenly, Bob let out a cry and collapsed, according to the police report.
Francis Holder, the dog’s trainer of two years, said he ran outside after another client came in and said Bob had collapsed.
“When I went to pick him up, I got hit by the current that was coming through the sidewalk,” Holder said.
They rushed the 5-year-old dog into the nearby Boston Animal Hospital, but veterinarians were unable to resuscitate him. Begley said a veterinarian has since told her there were “telltale” signs of electrocution in Bob’s necropsy.
“He was part of the Pawsitive Dog family,” Holder said of Bob’s death. “It hurt the entire team.”
The trainer said he returned to the sidewalk to see if he could figure out what happened, not sure if what he’d felt was a shock from static electricity or something else.
When he saw the street light control box, he asked a client to call the utility company, and he was there when city workers arrived.
“They said that there was definitely some current going through,” he said, adding that the workers told him stray voltage can be caused by salt corroding the insulation on the electrical wiring.
The Public Works Department sent a street lighting crew to respond to a stray voltage issue that evening.
“Public Works works hard everyday to maintain the safety and well-being of our city’s infrastructure and services, and while we are saddened to hear of the loss caused by this tragic accident, we assure the public that this area has been made safe,” Chris Coakley, a spokesperson for the department, said in a statement.
Begley, who adopted from a Virginia rescue in 2013, is mourning her beloved pet.
“While Bob and I were just walking on a cement sidewalk, people should avoid manhole covers and anything that is steel,” she said. “I am heartbroken and I don’t want this to happen to any other dog or person. I think we should be able to walk our dogs on safe sidewalks.”
