We have a scanner in our home to listen to the local police, fire, power utility, etc. Most of the time it is just routine chatter but once in awhile it is a bit out of the ordinary and catches my attention.In our area power outages are frequently caused by a small animal climbing the utility pole and getting between the phases which will trip a breaker and of course the electricity stops flowing. The usual culprits are squirrels but sometimes a larger animal is to blame. Under normal circumstances the offending animal, on receiving an intense electrical shock, will be thrown off the pole but not aways. Sometimes the body must be removed.
I have a theory about the squirrels, I think they draw straws to see who will sacrifice themselves for the entertainment of the others. They like to see all the activity when the humans arrive and try to figure out what happened.
This is the conversation I heard this morning on the scanner between the local power company's dispatch office and one of their linemen.
Dispatch: This is Dispatch.
Lineman: Looks like the cause of the outage was a raccoon. It's still on the pole. I'm going up to get the body down.
Dispatch: OK, cause is a raccoon. Dispatch out.
There was a pause of about ten minutes.
Dispatch: This is Dispatch.
Lineman: Uh, . . .the . . . uh, raccoon woke up. He was not . . .uh, dead, repeat he woke up. He is . . . . uh, not very happy. I'm going to need some help, can you send a crew.
Dispatch: The raccoon is alive and you need a crew?
Lineman: That is uh, correct, I need . . . uh, help. The raccoon is angry.
Dispatch: The raccoon is angry . . . and you need a crew?
Lineman: ............uh, correct!
Dispatch: I will get a crew out to you. Dispatch out.
About thirty minutes passed.
Dispatch: This is Dispatch.
Lineman: We've been trying to get the raccoon down . . . he was very . . . uh, angry. (through all the background noise I thought I heard someone say something about "really big, sharp claws") We couldn't get near him. He finally came down on his own. Power has . . . uh, been restored.
Dispatch: Raccoon came down on his own and power has been restored?
Lineman: uh . . . correct.
Dispatch: Dispatch out.
I'm sure there was a crowd of squirrels sitting on the sideline nibbling on nuts and watching this show. All those big grown humans, with all their trucks and equipment, running around in circles and being held at bay by one raccoon!
And the raccoon? He was just looking for a quiet place to sleep.
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14 comments:
Lol! I loved this story. I often think animals know more than we give them credit for. Humans are the idiots in the picture. I have a family of squirrels in my backyard that chatter at me, as if to scold me anytime I disturb their privacy.
Throw in some popcorn, and I will with them!! LOLOL!
We must look ridiculos to them .... LOL!
Coons are mean and vicious animals or can be, one of the stories about them when I was growing up was how they drowned large dogs, would lure them into water and then pull fido under, don't know if it's true but.....
I have to wonder... I would assume that a raccoon couldn't life through that normally - so was this the baddest raccoon ever seen or did it happen to take a nap there after some other crispy critter had already shorted it out?
I think I like the idea of Secret Option C: it knew the power was shorted out and said "Man, I'm going up there so they think I'm dead, and then I'll jump up at them... you, squirrel with the camera, make sure you get a picture. This is going to be GREAT!"
Squirrel Queen that was just too funny! I loved it! Thx and much aprreciation for visiting my blog and now I am proudly one of your followers. We have a lot of chipmunks here and I wish I could figure out a way to warn them...cuz the dogs and cats keep killing them.
good story, very funny,.. got Ft. Negley in there,.. check it out.
Rae,
I was laughing so hard while this was going on and you notice no names were mentioned to protect the victims. The squirrels will "fuss" at the neighborhood cats when they get too close.
Hi Christine,
I know, I was tempted to drive over and join them for the show.
SQ
Hi TC,
Racoons are animals and they are dangerous when they or their young are in danger. I don't think we can attribute such traits as meaness to these creatures.
I have been around racoons and other animals most of my life and have never witnessed that type of behavior.
I have watched a mother raccoon quickly gather up her babies and send them up a tree, making sure all were accounted for, when she sensed danger. She then stayed on the ground to defend them. Isn't this something we would do for our children as well?
I would suspect the raccoon in the stories was just defending itself.
Hi Steve,
The current theory is that the raccon just brushed the line and got knocked out. I'm sure the lineman, when confronted by the teeth and claws of an angry raccoon was nervous for good reason. That kind of a jolt would make for a very grouchy raccoon.
I like Secret Option C much better. Maybe someone got some footage.LOL
SQ
Hi hickchic,
I like your blog, loved the story about teaching a teenager to drive.
That just about brought me to tears as I was laughing so hard.
Looking forward to reading more.
The poor little chipmunks just don't seem to be built for evading cats and dogs the way squirrels can but they sure are cute.
Stanley K.,
Thanks, just reporting what I heard.
Cool, I be over a little later to check it out.
SQ
Very funny. I'm glad that the racoon made it down safely. Somewhere, on a squirrel version of YouTube, there'll be a video of this and all the little squirrels will be chortling away.
Madame DeFarge,
I can almost picture all the squirrels gathered around their little laptops watching such a video. Too funny.
SQ
"OH S*** THEY CAUGHT ME!"
Poor little cutie-pie.
E_M_Y,
Yep,got caught!!
DQ's Windmill,
I was cheering for the raccoon the whole time. We have lots of them around here and they are so cute. I do make sure my cat stays in at night however, don't want her to tangle with those really long claws.
SQ
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