Kansas power outage caused by bobcat

Every now and then, we hear of power outages caused by furry, four-legged creatures.

But what knocked out electricity near Lakin in southwest Kansas on Monday wasn’t a rat or mouse. It wasn’t even a squirrel.

It was a bobcat.

Wheatland Electric reported that a crew responding to the outage found the bobcat atop a 35-foot utility pole, where it came into contact with a pair of electrified lines and died instantly.

The line crew used a bucket truck to remove the dead bobcat and assess the equipment for any further damage.

Once power was restored, Wheatland contacted the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism office in Pratt, which dispatched a game warden from Deerfield to review the incident.

This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Kansas power outage caused by bobcat ."