Bear Zapped By High Voltage Powerline

Someone needs to tell the wildlife in Fannin County that messing with powerlines is dangerous.

Stacy Galloway, of Tri-State EMC in McCaysville, said wildlife killed on powerlines is pretty common, but he has never before seen a bear get zapped by high voltage. One of Stacy’s co-workers responded to a power outage call in Blue Ridge at about 11 p.m. Sept. 19 and was surprised to find a 175-lb. sow black bear dead on the ground. The lineman had to shoo off three cubs in order to restore power to the neighborhood, which is just down the road from Fannin County High School.

“That’s the first time we’ve had that. We’ve killed coons and squirrels and hawks and everything else, but never this,” Stacy said. “We’re frying squirrels all the time, but a bear? It was a 45-foot pole. She climbed all the way to the top of it and made contact with a primary. It killed her.”

Stacy said the bear made contact with 7,200 volts.

“Man, we’ve got ’em everywhere,” Stacy said of bears in Fannin County. “We’re overrun with them.”