
Squirrels Are the Number One Culprit for Animal Damage to Aerial Fiber - pencilingin
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20190606_squirrels_number_one_culprit_for_animal_damage_to_aerial_fiber/
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patio11
HN exposed me to [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/opinion/sunday/squirrel-
po...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/opinion/sunday/squirrel-power.html) ,
which has the best paragraph about squirrels ever:

 _Matthew Olearczyk, a program manager with the Electric Power Research
Institute, explains that typically a squirrel will cause a blackout by
scampering across electrical equipment and touching simultaneously both an
energized component, like one of the cylindrical transformers at the top of a
utility pole, and a grounded piece of equipment. The squirrel completes the
circuit, generating an arc. There is an instantaneous flash of blue light. At
its center is the squirrel, combusting._

~~~
cco
I'm confused as to why this hasn't been incorporated into designs for
electrical utilities, squirrel length is pretty easy to figure out and then
just never design components that could be shorted via that reach.

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village-idiot
Squirrels are considered a strategic threat to the US infrastructure according
to some governmental agencies. They're amazingly effective at knocking out
power lines, albeit to the detriment of the squirrel who undertakes these
apparent suicide missions.

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arafa
Used to happen at our house all the time (once every 6-12 months), we had lots
of trees near power lines. There'd be a bang, a blue flash of light, a dead
squirrel, and no power (or a power dip).

~~~
siffland
We had the entire power to our building knocked out by a squirrel, one of the
admins got a picture of it fried on the ground after it fell. Took the power
company about 4 hours get power back to the building, one would think it would
be a little more difficult to knock out power.

totally off topic, but we have a pear tree in the back yard by a fence and the
squirrels will take bites out of the pears before they are ripe and knock them
on the ground. In over a decade we have not gotten a single pear off the tree.
My wife hates them and will yell at them, she has delcared war on them (but
she is losing). So they are efficient at being pests.

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darkpuma
If you're open to culling their population, a large bucket filled with water,
with bird seed floating on top, is very good at drowning squirrels.

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lbutler
While we don't have squirrels in Australia, we're not immune to this problem
either! Cockatoos, a native parrot, love chewing up our fibre lines.

[https://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/the-nbn-project/a-uniquely-
aus...](https://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/the-nbn-project/a-uniquely-australian-
problem-cockatoos-vs-infrastructure)

~~~
AWildC182
I have a cockatiel (small cousin to the cockatoo) at home. The first thing I
thought when I saw "Australia" was "oh god, cockatoos." Mine regularly severs
USB and headphone cables with ease then spends hours stripping all the
insulation off preventing any hope of repair. I can only imagine what the
Australian flying bolt cutters could do.

Edit: to anyone contemplating a parrot who owns a laptop, you _will_ come back
into the room to find it completely stripped of all its keys. Parrots just
really love forcibly disassembling things.

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thrownaway954
all wires should be buried. not only squirrels and other critters, but
hurricanes and other acts of nature cause major problems. i know that most
cities have started doing this for aesthetics than anything.

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js2
It's really expensive, time consuming, and those wires are still susceptible
to backhoes.

~~~
mcv
You need to make sure backhoes know where the cables are. It works very well
in Netherland. Except for high voltage long distance power, everything goes
underground.

Although in urban areas, I'd expect it to make more sense to have spacious
tubes underground through which all the cables are easily pulled, so you don't
have to dig everything up all the time. Maybe they already do that; I'm not
sure.

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Scoundreller
Does the Netherlands have a system for mandatory conduit sharing?

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mcv
I honestly have no idea. We might. There's very likely to be tons of
regulation around it to make everything as safe and practical as possible for
everybody.

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LifeofPi314
My dog tries to tell me this everyday.

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tzs
> anybody that has ever put out a bird feeder knows how persistent squirrels
> can be

Bribery is effective. Put out a separate feeder with something squirrels like
[1], make it easier to reach than your bird feeders, and keep it stocked. The
squirrels will feed there and leave the other feeders alone.

[1] [https://www.perkypet.com/articles/what-to-feed-
squirrels](https://www.perkypet.com/articles/what-to-feed-squirrels)

~~~
yareally
I haven't had to try it yet (no squirrels raiding my feeder in the area), but
supposedly spraying hot pepper juice on bird seed should keep the squirrels
away while still letting the birds eat the seed. Birds are immune to the
effects of capsicum because it doesn't attach to their pain receptors.

[https://www.maddog357.com/chili-pepper-birdseed-yes-
thing/](https://www.maddog357.com/chili-pepper-birdseed-yes-thing/)

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gavman
99% Invisible did a great episode on squirrels, covering their history in
major American cities (they were introduced, not native) and the havoc the
wreak on our infrastructure

[https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/uptown-
squirrel/](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/uptown-squirrel/)

~~~
tzs
The Eastern Gray squirrel is native in eastern and midwestern North America,
but it lives in forests, and we cut those down to make room for cities. So
bringing some in to live in the parks and other trees of those cities seems
more like re-introducing a native species than introducing a non-native
species.

They were later also brought in to cities in other parts of North America, and
there it was introducing a non-native species. Worse, in many of those areas
there were species of native squirrels living outside the cities. After the
Eastern Gray's were brought to the cities, they often spread to the forests
outside the cities, and took over the habitat of the native squirrels.

Here in the state of Washington, there is only one small area known to still
have a native Western Gray squirrel population. The Eastern Grays, introduced
a little under 100 years ago, have taken their place everywhere else.

I have no idea why whoever wanted squirrels in Seattle decided to bring
Eastern Grays from across the country, instead of simply going and trapping a
few of the then abundant native Western Grays outside the city, and using
those.

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jimhefferon
Also for ham radio antennas. I hate them.

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seiferteric
They're adorable, I forgive them.

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inflatableDodo
Now waiting for the news item, 'Little old homeless lady disconnects internet
with squirrel army.'

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alex_anglin
It's already begun: [https://cybersquirrel1.com/](https://cybersquirrel1.com/)

Although the squirrels seem to be taking it upon themselves...

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inflatableDodo
That is genius, but I note it doesn't disprove my 'little old lady who lives
in park' theory, it may just be mapping the extents of it.

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dreamcompiler
Someday our era may be known to history as "just before the Caddyshack
Apocalypse."

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deepsun
Could you make cable that is very untasty for squirrels, but environment-
friendly otherwise?

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dreamcompiler
Probably. Part of the problem is that many modern electrical insulation
materials--in an effort to be eco-friendly--are made of soy derivatives. When
such materials are used for wires in car engines, as they frequently are in
Japanese cars, rats consider them dinner. I live in a rural area, and I've
spent many $K on this problem.

Whether there's an equally "natural" material that rodents don't like is a
question that should be researched.

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ncmncm
They could put capsaicin in the insulation, if they cared.

That wouldn't help against Australian parrots but rodents are the clearly
bigger problem, most places.

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yareally
Parrots are immune to the pain effects of capsaicin because it doesn't attach
to their receptors and many actually love eating hot peppers.

[https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat...](https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat_hot_peppers2)

[https://www.maddog357.com/parrots-peppers-no-
sweat/](https://www.maddog357.com/parrots-peppers-no-sweat/)

[https://www.parrots.org/ask-an-expert/are-hot-peppers-
good-f...](https://www.parrots.org/ask-an-expert/are-hot-peppers-good-for-
your-parrot)

~~~
ncmncm
It is likely that the different perceptual capacities of mammals and birds is
the actual reason why peppers produce capsaicin. They "want" their fruit eaten
by birds, who will scatter the seeds widely, not by mammals who will not.

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PhasmaFelis
Why is it not practical to impregnate the cable sheaths with something foul-
tasting?

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Y-bar
cybersquirrel1.com strikes again!

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hbarka
Aerial things are the number one culprit for man-made damage to squirrels.

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et2o
Networking programming errors should be called squirrels instead of bugs.

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calcifer
Politicians and greedy monopolistic companies are the number one culprit for
aerial fiber in the first place, so...

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ncmncm
Other greedy companies are planning to loft thousands of satellites to compete
with the aerial fibers and, better, co-ax cable.

More power to them, astronomy notwithstanding.

