GIESMAR - A beloved family pet is gone. The family fears they lost their pet because an oil spill wasn't properly cleaned up, and no warning about contaminants was given.

The dog owner, a first responder in Ascension Parish, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the loss of their pet has been hard on their wife and three daughters. 

"If this was something that could kill my dog within 24-hours of contact, is there something I need to worry about with the kids?" he said.

He was home Monday afternoon when he heard an explosion. The power went out soon after, and Entergy was in the neighborhood to diagnose the outage. A crew later pinpointed the problem to a leaking transformer in his backyard.

"You could see a puddle of what looked like oil around the transformer," he said.

The family put the dog in its kennel while workers swapped out the transformer and an environmental crew cleaned up the oil. They left the old transformer in the backyard. 

Later that night, the first responder went to inspect the work and noticed an oil sheen around the new unit. The yard still hadn't been properly cleaned.

Tuesday morning, he says they called Entergy to collect the old transformer and scoop up the contaminated dirt. A crew was there for about an hour and then left.

"We just kind of went back to business as usual, nobody raised any suspicion of any hazard," he said.

Tuesday night, the family came home from an athletic event. The dog had been in the backyard while they were gone because that's where she likes to be. The first responder's nine-year-old daughter went to feed the dog and found her lifeless.

"That's when I got the hysterical phone call that our dog was dead," the first responder said.

The dog, Xena, liked to keep watch and poke her nose under the gate in the driveway. That's where the dog was found. She was three years old.

On Thursday, after the incident, an Entergy contractor visited the home and marked off the area around the transformer with spray paint and a boom. An oil sheen can still be seen in the same spot, along with a strong odor. They left a notice apologizing for the inconvenience and asking the family to avoid the area as "all oil has not been removed from the spill site." A return date of February 16 was written on the notice.

"I'm angry, upset for my family, honestly, I'm just confused," said the first responder.

While the family can't bring back the dog, they want answers and their yard to be restored.

"Just do the right thing and clean it up," he said.

Xena's body is currently at the LSU Veterinary School awaiting a necropsy to determine the cause of death. Entergy responded to a request for more information, but as of this publishing, has not provided anything further.