[Leica] IMG: Squirrels Crave Aluminum

[Jim Nichols]

One thing I have learned the hard way is that you never allow a squirrel 
a place to rest near a power or data cable run.  I don't like to cut 
trees, but I have trimmed branches if they grow toward a pole-to-house 
3-wire bundle.  Twice I have had low 120-volt power because the aluminum 
neutral was severely chewed up.  But, the damage is not limited to 
aluminum.  Our good friends at Lighttube had to replace 100 ft of 
overhead fiber optic cable because the holly trees that THEY planted to 
replace my white pines grew tall enough to give the fuzzy-tailed rodents 
a place to sit and chew.  They were really unhappy about that.

On 6/7/20 6:49 PM, Brian Reid wrote:
> Wow.
> There is a maxim in the high reliability data center industry (at 
> least among publicists) "Always keep a dead squirrel in the freezer."  
> When things go wrong and reporters converge, you can hold it up and 
> say "We found this inside the main transfer switch."
>
> On 2020-06-07 1:42 pm, Jim Nichols wrote:
>> Squirrels cause more damage to power distribution lines than any other
>> single cause.  But, my pole-to-house service line is not the only
>> thing that gets chewed up.  My 50-yr old Sears chain link fence and
>> gate have also been attacked over the years. Apparently, squirrels
>> crave aluminum.  The fence wire is tied to the top rail with a fairly
>> stiff aluminum tie.  This close-up photo shows the results of numerous
>> squirrel teeth working on the aluminum.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/20200607-P6071690.JPG.html
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
-- 
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA