Members of a Florida family are grieving after their 6-month-old dog died after stepping on an electrified pull box lid in Sarasota, the Herald-Tribune reported.
Lynn McDermott was walking Charlie Blizzard, a Great Pyrenees, on Saturday night. It had been raining, and when the dog's wet paws touched the lid of the pull box, the shock sent the animal sprawling onto the ground. McDermott reached down to pick up the dog's leash and also received an electrical shock, the Herald-Tribune reported.
A pull box is an underground container that holds the wiring for street lights.
McDermott called 911 and began running down the street, the Herald-Tribune reported.
“I thought Charlie got off his chain,” said McDermott’s wife, Debbie. “I got out of my car and saw Charlie; I thought he got hit by a car. But there was no blood.”.
Debbie McDermott began CPR, and Sarasota County firefighters gave the dog chest compressions and an oxygen mask when they arrived, the Herald-Tribune reported.
Public Works Director Doug Jeffcoat told the newspaper that the metal lid became electrified because a faulty wire underground had come into contact with it. Debbie Debbie McDermott said no one from the city or the Florida Department of Transportation have contacted them.
"We haven't gotten one call," Debbie McDermott told the Herald-Tribune. "We haven't gotten anything in the mail. This should have never happened to our puppy.
“People get 12 to 15 years with a dog, but Charlie didn’t die of cancer or old age,” Debbie McDermott said. “For your dog to be electrocuted because of someone else, that is profound. That shouldn’t happen.”
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