CHICAGO, Illinois - Dogs generally light up when their owner offers totake them for a walk in the park. However, Portia, a 5
year-old black Labrador retriever, was in for quite
a shock during her walk with owner Kerry Sorvino. As
the 70-pound canine stepped onto a metal plate
covering an electrical vault on the sidewalk, it began
to convulse uncontrollably as a voltage of electricity
surged through its body. Sorvino, not knowing what was
wrong, bent over to calm the squealing pooch and was
bitten on the hand. A passerby summoned a veterinarian
from an animal hospital and he tried to give Portia
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. However, he kept getting
a shock from her lips and was unable to save her. City
officials said a frayed wire apparently contacted the
cover plate set into the sidewalk on Wrightwood near
Lincoln and Sheffield. An investigation is being done
as to whether other city electrical vaults will be
checked.
