ohmidog!

Even the New York Times, apparently, was present when a group gathered on a recent Tuesday to remember Sebastian, a city dog who made headlines when he was killed in May by stray electrical voltage from a lamppost.

“It’s important to note that this hazard impacts on everyone,” said Blair Sorrel, who hosted the benefit/memorial at Grace and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on the Upper West Side for Sebastian’s bereaved owner, Celia Sing.

Sorrel is is the founder of Streetzaps.com, a website dedicated to raising awareness of stray voltage from fixtures such as streetlights and sidewalk metal plates.

Con Edison and the city’s Department of Transportation say they are working to end the hazard. The transportation department says it has painted 170,000 streetlight shafts with nonconductive paint that prevents shocks.

A Con Edison spokesman said the electric company has become more vigilant about the issue, as well. The number of electric shocks related to Con Ed equipment has since declined by 78 percent, to 46 in 2007 from 210 in 2004, according to the company’s website.

The lamppost that electrocuted Sebastian was the property of the Transportation Department and was replaced shortly after the accident.

At the benefit, those in attendance offered condolences, sipped wine and looked at the pet books and ceramic cat statues for sale, the Times reported, and a band called Pet-Rox performed songs about animals.