Upper East Side Dogs Shocked on Electrified Sidewalk Updated February 24, 2010 7:15am

ConEd fixed a pinched wire that electrified a section of sidewalk and may have zapped several dogs. (DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs)

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER EAST SIDE — Three dogs were shocked on Tuesday morning after they stepped on an electrified sidewalk, witnesses said.

The owner of Little Wolf Cabinet Shop at 1583 First Ave., near 82nd Street, called 311 Tuesday morning after watching three yelping dogs pass by his window.

"I saw the dogs crying out when they walked on that spot," said the shop and building owner, who would only give his name as Wolf. ("Everybody in New York City knows me as Wolf," he said.)

The pups apparently walked across a 10 to 15 foot area of sidewalk next to ConEd equipment that had thick power cords coming out of it that ran down into the sewer.

A ConEd spokesman said there was a team at the scene working to identify the problem. Power was cut off from the affected area to avoid any further accidents, he said.

Exposed wiring in underground power delivery lines was a common source of stray voltage in New York City, he said.

But the father of a woman killed by an electrified metal plate in the East Village told DNAinfo that the incident proved that Con Edison still had a long way to go to protect Manhattanites from dangerous stray voltage,

More than 7,252 energized objects were recorded in Manhattan from January 2007 to December 2009 resulting in 144 shocked pets or people, according to data collected by the the Jodie S. Lane Public Safety Foundation, a group named after an East Village woman electrocuted in 2004.

"It’s a people and a pets problem," Roger Lane, Jodie's father, told DNAinfo. "When a dog gets shocked it means the pet owner was also at risk. ConEd needs to continue to find ways to [reduce the risk]. "

Workers at the Upper East Side scene repaired a pinched livewire that was sending current to the sidewalk, a hazard amplified by the morning's rainy conditions.

Other neighbors who had been working on the block all morning said they did not notice the problem.

Following Jodie Lane's death, Con Ed paid $7.2 million to her family and to establish a scholarship fund at Columbia University.