Squirrel 'responsible' for power outage

A squirrel climbed up an electricity pole to cause power outage in an area, affecting supply to hundreds of consumers.

The incident occurred in United States (US) state of Pennsylvania, where a squirrel climbed a utility pole and knocked out power to about 765 consumers.

Penelec spokesman Todd Meyers said that the power outage that began at 9:43 am affected Granville Township and Lewistown, housing around 765 consumers. It was, however, restored at 10:30 am.

Meyers said a rodent had climbed a pole near the intersection of Industrial Park Road and U.S. 22 Business and gotten into the electrical equipment.

Meyers said animal protection gear was put in place to avoid another animal doing the same.

In another incident involving a squirrel, police in the US state of Alabama made an unusual seizure this week during a drug raid: a squirrel high on methamphetamine.

The apartment’s occupant wanted to make sure his caged “attack squirrel” was sufficiently aggressive so he fed it animal methamphetamine, the Limestone County’s sheriff’s office told The News Courier, a local newspaper.

Drugs and munitions also were seized during the raid Monday.

Alabama law forbids holding wild animals so, on the advice of environmental protection agents, the squirrel was set loose.

“It ran into the woods and did not attack the deputies who released it,” the sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page.