The lead article in the Sunday Review section of The New York Times (September 1 ) was “Squirrel Power [exclamation point removed, not allowed on our website]” by Jon Mooallem.
• Mooallem has a new hobby — power outages caused by squirrels (“POCBS”) — it’s like baseball statistics or celebrity-birthing news can be for other people.
• It started for Mooallem when he read about a squirrel electrocuting itself on a power line in Tampa, Florida — cutting power to 700 customers and delayed statewide achievement tests at three nearby schools.
• He set up a Google news alert: squirrel power. His interest in power outages caused by squirrels became more obsessive and profound.
• Why the chewing? teeth grow.
• Fix the problem with scare squirrels, similar to scare crows? Utility companies have installed plastic owls like the ones used to keep pigeons off of buildings. But hawks attack these, which also causes power outages.
• The industry is spraying utility poles with fox urine and painting equipment red, though both of these tactics have failed.
• What to do next?
Click here to read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/opinion/sunday/squirrel-power.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
