 Mrak, a Labradoodle, died when it stepped on a metal plate in west end Toronto, January, 2009.
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TORONTO - What price should Toronto Hydro pay for zapping the family pet?
Dusko Avramovic can't say how much his family should receive after Toronto Hydro's stray voltage pulsed through a metal plate on a Keele St. sidewalk and electrocuted the family's loyal Labradoodle, Mrak, in January 2009.
But Avramovic told the Sun Thursday he was insulted when Toronto Hydro offered him $500 for "emotional reimbursement" and the cost of buying the family a new dog.
The $500 is the total for all four members of Avramovic's family, including his one son who was walking the dog when he collapsed and Avramovic himself who tried to revive the dog by giving it CPR.
"It's kind of insulting," the civil engineer said. "I don't expect millions. I don't need the money. Give me my dog back and I'll pay you whatever you want."
The family does have another dog now, a Black Russian Terrier named Grom -- Serbian for thunder.
"We had to take a different one," Avramovic said, explaining why they didn't buy another Labradoodle.
Toronto Hydro spokesman Denise Attallah said the case is in litigation and the utility hasn't reached a settlement yet.
"The matter is before the courts, so we can't provide any comment," she said.
Attallah wouldn't confirm whether Toronto Hydro offered $500 to the family.
The death of Mrak was the second electrocution of a dog in less than two months along Keele, just south of Dundas St. W., and prompted Toronto Hydro to launch a citywide inspection.
In the wake of the dog deaths, Hydro announced it would replace 15,000 steel handwells with ones made from a fiberglass resin.
A few weeks later when several students were shocked while walking down the sidewalk on a school field trip, Hydro launched a multi-million-dollar inspection blitz that utilized 600 workers -- the largest mobilization in the utility's history.
When the blitz was completed, Toronto Hydro announced it cost more than $20 million.
don.peat@sunmedia.ca
