Crafty Brown Bear Climbs Utility Poles in Arizona

As EC&M readers, you’ve grown accustomed to seeing all of the crazy Code violations and electrical installation blunders we come across in this line of work. But here’s a new one for you: How about a North American brown bear turned lineman?

That’s exactly the sight a group of onlookers came across in Arizona. According to a recent article in Newsweek by Anabelle Doliner, part of Highway 191 was briefly closed while the Arizona Game & Fish Department (AZGFD) Tucson, Douglas police, Cochise sheriff’s office, and U.S. Border Patrol drove off a bear that had climbed two utility poles. Although these aerial antics put the bear at risk of electrocution, it luckily decided to climb down on its own and left the scene for its natural habitat unharmed.

For more details on how this potential calamity unfolded, read the original report and see a fascinating photo.