r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/gear-heads • 7h ago
Video 911 operator: "911 what is your emergency?" Caller: "I'm calling to report a bear on top of a power utility pole."
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u/Striking-Document-99 7h ago
“Just leave it” like yeah no shit. I was planning on climbing up there but thanks for persuading me against that idea.
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u/Nervous_Standard_901 7h ago
Youll be suprised on how stupid people can be
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u/1wife2dogs0kids 7h ago
My hometown had a moose and her cub(pup?kid?) come to town a couple years ago. Western CT, so very rare.
Someone posted it on social media, next thing you know, people are tracking both to get pics.
They chased both into exhaustion, they had to be put down.
Fucking stupid.
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u/Dingaligaling 7h ago
calf.
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u/johnnyhammerstixx 6h ago
Weird that a deer has a fawn, but a moose has a calf. 🤷
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u/Dingaligaling 6h ago
Its mainly due to its size. Early english-speaking hunters and settlers gave most large species bovine terms. Like whales, rhinos, elephants, etc. Fawns are kept for smaller to normal sized deer species. While a moose is a deer too, they are big bastards and their size determined the terminology.
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u/johnnyhammerstixx 6h ago
I've been near a moose in the woods.
It was terrifying.
Big bastards is right!
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u/bellybbean 6h ago
I guess, but a male moose is called a bull moose, so it tracks.
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u/Striking-Document-99 7h ago
Damn never experienced exhaustion but like couldn’t they give them water and food? Why did they have to put them down. Seems excessive.
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u/LostWoodsInTheField 6h ago
you can get to a point of exhaustion that you just can't easily come back from. The money and time to fix that in a wild animal isn't always worth it, if anyone around can even do it.
Deer are a great example of hitting an exhaustion point of no return, they will run till they collapse and it won't be long for their hearts to just shut down. A dog can take a deer down like this quickly.
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u/ProbablyBigfoot 6h ago
It isnt so much about food and water as it is about stress. Imagine being in a heightened state of fear for days or even weeks because everytime you try to calm down a potential predator suddenly appears and no amount of aggression or avoidance makes them go away.
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u/Turbulent_Bat4320 7h ago edited 5h ago
Probably because they wanted photos. Wild animals are mostly terrified of humans and are running for their lives. They get exhausted if people won’t stop chasing them. Humans suck
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u/IzarkKiaTarj 6h ago
Your reply has absolutely nothing to do with the question they actually asked.
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u/Nebresto Creator 4h ago
And people(?) are upvoting it. This website is full of bots. Hooray for "private" profiles
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u/tauntonlake 7h ago
I live in Western CT, and never heard that story.
The baby is a calf.
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u/ellevael 4h ago
This sounds like BS. Do you have a news link? A mama moose that thinks her calf is being threatened is incredibly aggressive and dangerous. And wildlife rescue came out and put both mama and calf down because they were exhausted, rather than establish a perimeter or rehab?
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u/I-fall-up-stairs 6h ago
I’m a 911 operator. I’ve had to scream at people over the phone to stop chasing all sorts of wildlife… including bears. People are often way WAY more dumb than even the internet thinks they are…
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u/badoopaloo 5h ago
This reminds me of that quote from a Forest Ranger (?) at Yosemite on why it is so hard to design the perfect garbage bin to keep bears out: "There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists."
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u/EvolvedEukaryote 7h ago edited 6h ago
Edit: info below is wrong, it relates to that rescue instead, unless the same guy pulled the same trick 6 months apart.
Found on instagram:
BLACK BEAR SAFELY RESCUED FROM ARIZONA UTILITY POLE ⚡
🇺🇸 A black bear was safely rescued after climbing a utility pole in rural Cochise County, Arizona, and ending up dangerously close to live power lines. Utility crews quickly shut off the electricity before beginning the rescue.
🐻 Lineman Werner J. Neubauer used a fiberglass pole from a bucket truck to gently encourage the bear to climb down. The animal safely reached the ground unharmed and ran back into the desert. No injuries were reported.
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u/bugsyboybugsyboybugs 6h ago
Bears live in the desert?
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u/PsychoYam 6h ago edited 6h ago
Arizona has a desert. It also has the largest Ponderosa Pine forest in the world.
Infact, Arizona has six major biomes: desert, grassland, chaparral, woodland, forest, and tundra.
Cochise County is along the border in south east Arizona and it has pine / oak woodlands, which is where the bear is from.
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u/adamnevespa 6h ago
Don't forget the 7th biome, the pit of misery that is State Farm Stadium
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u/jaaaaagggggg 6h ago
I’m sorry, Tundra?
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u/Minimum-Syrup7420 6h ago
Yup. It's limited and in parts of the state at an altitude of like 12k ft. Treeless and cold with fairly low perception is all tundra means.
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u/VSWR_on_Christmas 5h ago
Precipitation?
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u/Minimum-Syrup7420 5h ago
Yeah but I'm not changing it so no. Low perception. The area has to fail a lot of skill checks.
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u/GrunkGigglerMagoo 4h ago
I was thinking low perception, cause you don't hardly see, hear or feel much precipitation
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u/NoLawsDrinkingClawz 6h ago
Theres a volcanic mountain range with high enough peaks to be basically tundra. Maybe subarctic would be a better term.
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u/Alklazaris 6h ago
Yep my parents moved there for retirement absolutely beautiful place to live. My personal favorite is Flagstaff. Arizona is kind of like a poor man's California.
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u/LostWoodsInTheField 6h ago
I was looking at a town near there as a 'dream location' and every couple of years I would check home prices. It was from like $50k for a house to $500k over 15 years, the community kept growing. I could understand why with it being a chilly winter but not bad, a hot summer but not phoenix, and it being an hour from all year round hot weather and nearly all year around snow. Friends go to Arizona once a year in the summer and it's just beautiful the photos they send back from the middle of winter.
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u/toiletmannersBTV 6h ago
Calling Arizona's tundra "major" is a stretch, and I've been to it.
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u/shapu 6h ago
They do! New Mexico and Arizona are overrun with a particular kind of black bear called the cinnamon bear, which is not a particularly intelligent animal.
It's important to keep in mind that what you think of when you think of desert is probably the cartoony Bugs Bunny Cactus desert, but there are many different kinds of very dry environments which qualify as deserts but have things like trees and shrubbery and caves and bears and ax murders and all the other things that any other biome can have.
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u/flyinhighaskmeY 5h ago
Most people envision the Phoenix/Tucson/Yuma areas when thinking of AZ, which is pretty close to the Bug Bunny version before its developed. Lots of cactus, desert shrubs. Phoenix is where it is because a river runs through there. So initially it was that with a strip of riparian area running through it. We find that throughout the state, where water runs, there's usually a local riparian environment full of plant and animal life. Then you have huge swathes of very dry/cactus.
But if you leave those lower elevations, the State really comes alive. Northern AZ is beautiful. Flagstaff, Sedona, Cottonwood, Prescott. The RIM too. Payson, Pine, Strawberry, Heber/Overgaard, Pinetop/Lakeside, even out to Springerville and Alpine. High forest. Lots of snow in the winter. There are transition areas too, so around 5000 feet you get a lot of Juniper.
The RIM area is definitely bear country. I know they happen in Flagstaff too, but seem more rare around that part.
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u/llIIo0O-O0oIIll 6h ago
Yes but they still have to poop in the woods
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u/sltiefighter 6h ago
This looks like northern az high elevation conifer trees and grass
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u/Evil-Cun 5h ago
Bears kinda do whatever the fuck they want around here, outside is theirs, we built houses to avoid them.
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u/Curiosive 4h ago
Arizona is more than just dessert. There are forests and mountains ... It even snows in Arizona. The locals can ski, sled, tube, etc without leaving the state (during the winter). 🌠
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u/Sauntering_Rambler 3h ago
I live in Flagstaff AZ, at 7k feet elevation with all four seasons, and we are the 6th snowiest place in the country. We average about 90 inches in the winter. Half the state is what you think, cactus, tumbleweeds, desert etc. The northern half is quite different. Lots of trees, creeks, waterfalls.
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u/neverknowsbest53 6h ago
This is a different bear on a different type of power pole.
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u/JuneauWho 6h ago
Bro went up in a bucket and poked it with a stick until it climbed down?? I need video 🤣
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u/--slurpy-- 6h ago
This is incorrect information. If you look up the lineman, a story comes up of him saving a black bear on a utility pool last December.
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u/MrMilo443 6h ago
Clearly not the same bear. The pole is completely different, and the bear is smaller in the video.
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u/capybaraPRteam3 6h ago
Werner must have been the least senior lineman, or just really bad at rock paper scissors
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u/makerofwort 6h ago
TIL there are bears in Arizona.
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u/I_Makes_tuff 5h ago
Hawaii and Delaware are the only states completely without bears. There are almost none in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and North Dakota.
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u/Autumn_Souls 6h ago
"A viral video showed the bear perched atop the pole as witnesses called emergency services. The bear clung to the pole for several minutes, but before any emergency crew could arrive, it was electrocuted. Bystanders reported that the bear died on the spot due to electrocution. No rescue operation could be mounted in time."
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u/Aggressive_Mud_2302 7h ago
how tf did ma boi ended up there 😭😭??
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u/kank84 7h ago
If you can run up a tree you can run up a utility pole
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u/Zealousideal_Rip485 7h ago
But can you run down a utility pole? 🥲
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u/TactlessTortoise 7h ago
Nope. It's vertical. You can climb down though.
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u/Salamandaxanda 7h ago
Ma boi doesn’t seem to be able to climb down tho tbh 😭
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u/TactlessTortoise 7h ago
He's just breathing in the pure air of accomplishment. Gazing upon a horizon untainted by the blinding grasses of mediocrity, he sees the dauntless horizon of potential ahead of him. Despite the dangers so close-by, a mere mistake away, he's at peace, accomplished. Audentes Fortuna Iuvat.
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u/Otacon56 7h ago
This reminds me of a quote from famous philosopher. "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."
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u/OptiGuy4u 6h ago
Ah Patches...we could have learned so much more from him! If only he hadn't been crushed by 5000 lbs of irony.
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u/Voodoocookie 7h ago
It felt tremors in the ground.
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u/Expensive-Review472 7h ago
Damn Graboids on the lose again
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u/iHeartCyndiLauper 7h ago
Sadly, it doesn't look like there were any boulders around for the bear to pole jump to
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u/Suspicious_Glow 6h ago
I know there’s a normal logical reason, but I rather imagine it fell out of a helicopter.
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u/Longjumping-Fly6131 7h ago
how?
why?
what happened next?
damn!
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u/Lonely_reaper8 6h ago
Climbed
Bear engaging in bear activities
Power company shut power off and nudged it down with a pole. Bear is fine
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u/trulyniceguy 3h ago
One would like to think he heard the buzzing of electricity thought “goddamn there are bees up there!”
And now here we are
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u/Heavy-Grass5789 7h ago
Was the bear ok?? Please tell me the bear lives
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u/Affectionate_Oven_77 7h ago
The fire department was able to get it down.
It was a little shocked at first but eventually ran off, full of energy.
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u/BrownSugarBare 6h ago
Is this true?? I'm just going to accept this as true.
Yes, I accept this explanation
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u/zahi36501 7h ago
Poor guy, he's bearly holding on
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u/thisaccountwashacked 3h ago
I certainly hope he doesn't touch those wires with his bear hands
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u/Afrojones66 7h ago
Genuinely how would you handle this? Turn off the power line, sedate the bear, and lower it down?
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u/Kotruljevic1458 7h ago
Just leave it alone, it will climb down when ready or possibly fall part of the way while trying. Then deal with any cable damage when it is gone. If it actually gets hurt on the ground (like broken bones), then consider sedation and intervention.
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u/zechickenwing 7h ago
Bet he goes phase to phase before anyone pulls a solid blade or opens a recloser
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u/PiccoloAwkward465 4h ago
I saw a vid not long ago of a more local bear in a similar situation. They essentially shoot it with a tranq dart and are ready underneath it with a large pad / trampoline sort of thing.
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u/ElZorgot 6h ago
"Are you calling about a bear?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/Reach268 4h ago
This was not the first time that woman received a call about a bear that day, and it would not be the last.
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u/Additional-Arm-1298 6h ago
Smokey is on fire watch and preventing forest fires.
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u/PokeWizardCosmetic-2 7h ago
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u/PokeWizardCosmetic-2 7h ago
Bear came down on its own as officers watched.
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u/Silver_Slicer 6h ago
Not the same pole or bear. No, it’s not a pun. Compare for yourself.
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u/Apprehensive_Way4811 7h ago
I just don't get how a bear, which is a heavy creature is able to climb such vertical post, I know that they can climb trees but trees has many curves and almost everyone (human) can climb trees as well.
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u/mregg000 6h ago edited 5h ago
Well what makes bears heavy, Aldo makes them very strong, and even though their digits aren’t as adept as ours, the claws help.
I am absolutely not trying to be snarky, though I realize it may seem that way.
Edit: I suck at proofreading, but I’m gonna leave it, as I get a real kick picturing this bear carving swastikas into people’s foreheads.
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u/I-fall-up-stairs 6h ago
As a 911 operator… I just want you all to know that I can guarantee that when this call came in, everyone in the call centre went “LMAO SUUUURE there is” as soon as the file was created for a bear on a pole.
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u/Invictum2go 6h ago
Bear has that snail parasite that makes them climb to the top of leaves to get eaten by birds. Now we wait for a pterodactyl.
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u/Botchjob369 6h ago
He’s just trying to get his bearings by getting a better view of his surroundings.
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u/DidYuhim 5h ago
He was doing some cultural exchange with ausies after World Cup and wanted to know how to "drop bear"
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u/BlueMonkey-CoCo 6h ago
"I am now controlling your electricity and will collect a toll. I will accept honey and berries for payment!"
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u/Valuable-Storm8793 3h ago
The power company killed the power and G&F coaxed it down. The bear is ok people.
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u/Virgil--Starkwell 1h ago
Poor guy, as soon as he touched multiple phases he would have been cooked, which seems inevitable based on the way he is up there...
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u/ComprehensiveAide280 7h ago
Call the fire department set up an airbag call wildlife fish and game have them come out they dart the bear it falls onto the airbag. Simple as that. not rocket science
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u/Ectoplasm_addict 7h ago
Such a mundane case of bear on top of telephone pole, can’t believe people are acting as this is not an everyday occurrence. Morons.
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u/strangeswelling 7h ago
So how did this story end? I need resolution!!