- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 503
A friend of mine sent me this to me in an e-mail and I thought I would share it with ya'll.
"While patrolling a line outside of Griffin, Georgia, on the recent ice storm I spotted something unusual on top of a 45 foot distribution pole. From a distance I thought it was a hawk since it is not uncommon to see them sitting on top of poles. As I got closer it became apparent that it was not a hawk but appeared to be an animal of some sort. Only after I got out of the truck and walked around the pole a couple times did I realize it was a bobcat.
The 2 outside phases on this circuit are energized and the middle phase is dead. At first I assumed the cat was dead and may have been the cause of the outage. But as I walked around the pole several times looking up at the cat I noticed that no mater where I was he was looking at me. He was very much alive and appeared to be trying to hide from me on top of the pole.
I called a couple guys on the radio and told them what I was looking at. Of course they didn't believe it and had to come see for themselves. After we determined that it was in fact alive and appeared to be unharmed we called in a bucket truck to attempt to rescue the cat. The initial plan was to go up in a bucket and try to convince him to climb down the pole with a hot stick. After a quick tailboard discussion (which should be done before any job) we determined that that plan presented several hazards, including the cat getting upset and shorting out one of the energized phases and causing a flash, or he may decide the best route down was across the hot stick and into the bucket.
As funny as that may have been we decided against it and went to Plan 2 which was was to coax him down with an extendo stick. Robert Burras, RSI, claimed to be pretty good with an extendo and also at animal mitigation so he volunteered to tackle the job. When Robert touched the bobcat with the extendo it gave up its game of hide and seek and started running circles around the pole top pin (seriously). Apparently on the second lap he got close enough to one of the energized phases that the static started making him uncomfortable. He let out a loud caterwaul (scream) and jumped off the pole with all 4 legs pointed in different directions (Cat11). I was attempting to photograph the rescue but it all happened so fast I was only able to get one picture of his escape. The cat hit the ground with a very loud thud, jumped about 3 feet high, then ran straight under the bucket truck and out the other side. Last time we saw him he was running at a high rate of speed across a field, apparently unharmed.
Morals to story...
1) Cats really do have 9 lives.
2) Evidently cats do always land on their feet, at least from 45 feet high.
3) Cat claws are apparently really, really sharp....CCA poles are hard!
4) GPC may have come up with an effective way to reduce squirrel outages (bobcats eat squirrels!).
5) If you are ever out alone in Georgia, be careful! Whatever scared this cat up the pole is still out there..."
If the pictures don't show up, I posted on the Swamp as well....Pole Cat
"While patrolling a line outside of Griffin, Georgia, on the recent ice storm I spotted something unusual on top of a 45 foot distribution pole. From a distance I thought it was a hawk since it is not uncommon to see them sitting on top of poles. As I got closer it became apparent that it was not a hawk but appeared to be an animal of some sort. Only after I got out of the truck and walked around the pole a couple times did I realize it was a bobcat.
The 2 outside phases on this circuit are energized and the middle phase is dead. At first I assumed the cat was dead and may have been the cause of the outage. But as I walked around the pole several times looking up at the cat I noticed that no mater where I was he was looking at me. He was very much alive and appeared to be trying to hide from me on top of the pole.
I called a couple guys on the radio and told them what I was looking at. Of course they didn't believe it and had to come see for themselves. After we determined that it was in fact alive and appeared to be unharmed we called in a bucket truck to attempt to rescue the cat. The initial plan was to go up in a bucket and try to convince him to climb down the pole with a hot stick. After a quick tailboard discussion (which should be done before any job) we determined that that plan presented several hazards, including the cat getting upset and shorting out one of the energized phases and causing a flash, or he may decide the best route down was across the hot stick and into the bucket.
As funny as that may have been we decided against it and went to Plan 2 which was was to coax him down with an extendo stick. Robert Burras, RSI, claimed to be pretty good with an extendo and also at animal mitigation so he volunteered to tackle the job. When Robert touched the bobcat with the extendo it gave up its game of hide and seek and started running circles around the pole top pin (seriously). Apparently on the second lap he got close enough to one of the energized phases that the static started making him uncomfortable. He let out a loud caterwaul (scream) and jumped off the pole with all 4 legs pointed in different directions (Cat11). I was attempting to photograph the rescue but it all happened so fast I was only able to get one picture of his escape. The cat hit the ground with a very loud thud, jumped about 3 feet high, then ran straight under the bucket truck and out the other side. Last time we saw him he was running at a high rate of speed across a field, apparently unharmed.
Morals to story...
1) Cats really do have 9 lives.
2) Evidently cats do always land on their feet, at least from 45 feet high.
3) Cat claws are apparently really, really sharp....CCA poles are hard!
4) GPC may have come up with an effective way to reduce squirrel outages (bobcats eat squirrels!).
5) If you are ever out alone in Georgia, be careful! Whatever scared this cat up the pole is still out there..."
If the pictures don't show up, I posted on the Swamp as well....Pole Cat
