Power and internet outages don’t always start with a storm. Sometimes they start with a tiny set of teeth and a whole lot of confidence.

Squirrels, with their fluffy tails and wide-eyed curiosity, are fun to watch scurrying between trees and scavenging for nuts in the park. But they’re less cute when gorging on the gel inside fiber cans or the aluminum in power lines.

Raccoons and snakes can get into substations and transformers, and birds sometimes contact energized equipment. In many of these cases, our protective equipment temporarily interrupts power to prevent more serious damage. You might notice your lights blink or experience a brief outage, but you’re quickly back to your routine.

Sometimes animal-caused outages require lengthy restorations. To help reduce the risk of these, Gibson Electric Membership Corporation uses:

Durable covers that help keep wildlife from touching energized components.

Plastic pole guards, which are the smooth, slippery plastic barriers you see wrapped around poles that discourage animals from climbing and reaching our energized equipment.

Raptor framing, a pole design that increases the space between energized lines so large birds can perch safely without contacting more than one line.

We can’t stop every curious critter, but we’re always ready to respond. Whether it’s storms or sharp teeth, we’re working behind the scenes to deliver the reliable power and internet you count on.