Electrocuted bear

[snopes]

This is what a Sprint tech found when he went to a cell site to check on a problem with the line.

[Morrigan]

A few more photos of it:

http://www.mainehuntingtoday.com/electrocutedbear.html

http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/p...532025,00.html

Apparently it happened in August 2006 in Anchorage, Alaska.

ETA: This site with an article about where it was, how the bear was found and more: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildl...-7958666c.html

Morrigan

[inkrose115]

Musta been a totally electrifying end for the poor guy.

[Tootsie Plunkette]

I was gonna whine that this needed a "disturbing image" warning - then I realized the name of the topic, and that it was in Fauxtography, should have given me (or anyone) a clue.

Poor bear.

[Izzy Quigley]

When I saw the first picture I thought that the bear's muzzle was actually its left ear, and that the shock had somehow melted its face off.

I'm glad I was wrong. Still awful for the bear, though.

ETA: Wait - what's the brown stuff on the box under the bear's cheek? Is it just dirt, or is it fur/skin that's come off the bear's head? I'm pretty sure it's dirt, but it blends in well.

[hambubba]

Something (several!) things wrong here - one, a Sprint technician looking for utility wires?

Next, those wires are very small. The article describes the size of the wires as "vacuum" (cleaner?) cords. These are much too small to be used for 5000 volt transmission of any kind. Note picture 2. There's a component in that line. Also, the type of electrical box is for low voltage, and the cable looks direct buried.

It was on airport property, so it might have been for a radar system with high voltage and low current - the charring could actually be from RF burns rather than voltage.

[Morrigan]

Hambubba, from the article I got "A 600-pound brown bear made its way to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail on the edge of Kincaid Park and was killed when it opened a utility box and bit into a live electrical wire Thursday."

"The bear found the two wires -- about the thickness of vacuum cords -- by first ripping off a 3-foot high protective plastic box. It appeared that almost instantly when the bear bit into the wire, it was electrocuted. "It didn't thrash much, it was pretty quick," Sinnott said."

Morrigan

[hambubba]

Yes. I read all that originally, and my questions still remain.

Originally Posted by hambubba

Something (several!) things wrong here - one, a Sprint technician looking for utility wires?

Next, those wires are very small. The article describes the size of the wires as "vacuum" (cleaner?) cords. These are much too small to be used for 5000 volt transmission of any kind. Note picture 2. There's a component in that line. Also, the type of electrical box is for low voltage, and the cable looks direct buried.

It was on airport property, so it might have been for a radar system with high voltage and low current - the charring could actually be from RF burns rather than voltage.

If it were a radar system output, it would most likely be waveguide (hollow rectangular tubing) rather than cable. However, being adjacent to an airport and underground, it could conceivably be airport lighting for the runway and/or approach lights. These can be at several thousand volts, examples here. And they typically carry a pretty high current, so it would be feasible that a bear could electrocute itself by biting into the lines.

I know I shouldn't laugh, but in my parts, we have troubles with snakes and squirrels getting into the power boxes and getting fried (and causing a power outage). I don't know what our utility folks would do if they found a BEAR in the box....

[Horse Chestnut]

Poor bear. I wonder what possessed it to tear into the box in the first place?

[STF]

Originally Posted by Izzy Quigley

When I saw the first picture I thought that the bear's muzzle was actually its left ear, and that the shock had somehow melted its face off.

For some reason every time I read this it makes me laugh. Something about the possibility of his face being melted off is just funny to me. I don't know why.

[ParaDiddle]

Originally Posted by hambubba

Something (several!) things wrong here - one, a Sprint technician looking for utility wires?

I'm may be granting too much but, I'm guessing that the story might not have been described accurately. The Sprint tech may have been researching a problem on a utility pole that also carries Sprint equipment. It just may happen that the Sprint guy was the first one to locate the origin of the problem.

- P

[Izzy Quigley]

Originally Posted by STF

For some reason every time I read this it makes me laugh. Something about the possibility of his face being melted off is just funny to me. I don't know why.

What can I say, I have an overactive imagination. I misinterpret pictures all the time - it's like the world is a Rorshach test. I thought that the mud on the box in the first picture was a puddle of melted bear-face. Kind of a nasty surprise until I figured out what was really going on.

[Bryan With a 'Y']

Yep. Genuine, except the Sprint part - it was Chugach Electric, one of our local utilities. We don't even have Sprint up here. The adn.com site is indeed our local paper, and Rick Sinnott is indeed the local biologist who gets to deal with stuff like this. His daughter went to my high school.
Frankly, it wouldn't have occurred to me to post this in the first place - with the amount of wildlife in the Anchorage Bowl we have incidents like this too often. I have to have people come up and visit us to remind me that not everyone is used to having moose bed down in their yard.

[Bryan With a 'Y']

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

I know I shouldn't laugh, but in my parts, we have troubles with snakes and squirrels getting into the power boxes and getting fried (and causing a power outage). I don't know what our utility folks would do if they found a BEAR in the box....

I take some comfort in the fact that we don't have any snakes, scorpions, or poisonous spiders up here. Somehow it's a relief to know that if an animal is going to kill me, it's not going to come from nowhere, sting me and disappear. It's going to look me right in the face, before tearing it off.

Okay, it's not much of a relief, but...