April 19, 2007: Electrocuted bear

A lurker who I can't match to a Cellar user name (thanks Shannon!) sent this along last night. The story that goes with the pics is a little suspect, but Snopes has checked it out and this brown bear actually did get electrocuted.



Before the bear could get to this wire, in which ran 5,000 volts, he had to tear open a utility box at the airport.



One kinda odd note about this one is that it was first discovered by a child riding her bike. But I'll wager that, in Alaska, children aren't kept unaware of the bleak realities of life and death in nature, and bears aren't friendly speaking creatures who sell you toilet paper.



According to this story,

Bears like to chew on plastic, said Sinnott, who was not surprised the bruin was curious about the box and its contents. "I don't know what they get out of it, but they are curious and he might have tried to investigate it just because it's rubber or plastic."

Unfortunate framing in the first picture - it looks like the plastic tape is threaded through the fellow's ears.

Also something about the positioning of the piece of paper in that shot reminds me of the Mexican naked protest IotD. Though it's slipped by the time of the shot with the backhoe.

Pre-cooked IOTD. Wonder if it tastes like chicken?

April 19, 2007

Note to self:
Do not chew on electrical wire outside of house.

His last words were "Hold my pic-a-nic basket Boo Boo and watch this."

We need a NSFALBTOIRDAS warning.

(Not safe for animal lovers because this one is really dead and sad)

Bear's pretty tasty, but much better when well done. I seem to recall that they can carry trichinosis.

all of our Chinese members:
what are they going to do with the gall bladder?

"I don't know what they get out of it, but they are curious and he might have tried to investigate it just because it's rubber or plastic."

and probably humming...

my cat likes to chew plastic. the vet said it had something to do with being weaned too early. i dunno.

Hey look! A new rug!

I wonder if his name is "Smokey"?

Perfect. Just in time for my husband's planned electrical work this weekend.

:worried:

The smiling guy in the first picture bothers me... :neutral:

At least once or twice a semester a squirrel will get into the transformer on our campus and get fried, knocking out power to a building or two. Yesterday it was the whole campus and the transformer caught on fire .. you guessed it, another squirrel.

Those damned electrical wires! We need to eliminate electricity once and for all after this tragic event!

sycamore;335276 wrote:

Those damned electrical wires! We need to eliminate electricity once and for all after this tragic event!

Yes, we must stop blaming the victim.

lumberjim;335239 wrote:

my cat likes to chew plastic. the vet said it had something to do with being weaned too early. i dunno.

Hmmm. I've never heard that one by way of explanation. I've had a cat or two that liked to chew plastic though. The first time I had a cat like that, I found what looked like a piece of kelp, slimed with mucus. I knew it was something that the cat coughed up, but couldn't figure out what it was...until I found a black trash bag with a missing corner, in the basement containing an old rug in it.

lumberjim;335239 wrote:

my cat likes to chew plastic. the vet said it had something to do with being weaned too early. i dunno.

I've had two cats who loved to chew plastic, but were also very allergic to it. The first one I noticed because all of a sudden he had these huge lips. Vet said it's not uncommon. The other cat, same thing. We used metal bowls after that, but don't let Madison find the top off a cigarette pack.

Clodfobble;335257 wrote:

Perfect. Just in time for my husband's planned electrical work this weekend.

:worried:

Your husband is a bear?

Damn all you desk jockeys !!!

3 Posts to food !!!!

I fail to see the tragedy.

The squirrel that did my entire campus in:

Krispy !!!

Jeezus you lower-48 people have some HUGE squirrels!!!

Dumbasses around here feed them because they are cute, rather than shoot them because they are vermin.

The squirrel looks like he was standing next to Han Solo. Is he on the mantle Bullitt?

Delmar O'Donnell: Care for some squirrel?
Ulysses Everett McGill: No thank you, Delmar. One third of a squirrel would only arouse my appetite without bedding it down.
Delmar O'Donnell: Oh, you can have the whole thing. Me and Pete already had one apiece. We ran across a whole... squirrel village.

Last fall I mailed these pictures to my Aunt in New England. The same day she received them, she got a letter from friends in AK describing the bear being found but had seen no pictures in the local AK paper.