Falling power line kills 13 dogs during Storm Dudley

The pedigree animals were electrocuted when a falling tree brought a cable crashing down on their kennel

Thirteen dogs have died after being electrocuted when a cable fell on their kennel during Storm Dudley.

The pedigree animals were killed when a tree toppled and brought a section of overhead power line down on the Cuckavalda Gundogs kennels in Ampleforth, North Yorkshire.

The 11,000-volt cable collapsed on Wednesday afternoon.

Eleven Labradors and two Cocker Spaniels, aged between six months and seven years, were killed.

The kennel’s owners Jack and Anna Peckitt said the “beautiful creatures” were “all taken far too young”.

Northern Powergrid is understood to be investigating.

A spokesperson said: “Storm Dudley caused a tree on a customer’s land to fall and bring down a section of overhead power line onto kennels which were situated directly under the section of electricity network.

“Sadly, a number of dogs in the kennel were electrocuted. As soon as we were alerted, we isolated supplies in the YO61 and 62 areas, causing a power cut for around 680 customers. Our contact centre advisor also provided immediate safety advice to the customer to stay clear of the area and metal kennel.

“Power was safely restored to the majority of customers last night. We remain in contact with the customer, and our teams have been on site carrying out final repairs to the section of network damaged by the storm.”