And ... if so, how?

Here's a pic sent me from another forum. (Sorry for the size, etc ... it's not one of the usual formats).

Absolutly NOT! The cat will come down when ready.

Nor do I swerve for squirrels.

If you can't see the PNG file, here it is as a JPEG:

http://www.electricalphotos.com/showphoto.php/photo/439/ppuser/8

Ian A.

I agree, he will come down when he is ready or maybe a little quicker if he gets curious about those wires.

No, I've yet to see the skeleton of a cat in either a tree, or on a power pole.

I did not put the cat up there, and have no need to get him down. He will get down when he is ready.

Here's a pic of the rescue in progress (no, that's NOT me!):




I'm sure the PoCo has an extensive protocol that covers such situations.

My role in all this? As "supreme being" at a cat lovers' web site, this issue comes up with some frequency. I usually tell folks to be patient ... and I've managed to persuade a few folks to put away their ladders, send the tree-trimmer away, etc. There are very real dangers on those poles.

Now, I just have to learn how to change the format pictures come in ....

That is too funny because that's exactly what I was thinking. Cats will outlive me by eight lives and squirrels are nothing but pests. Large rats in my opinion.

Seriously, I don't see the justification in placing a lineman in the way of unnecessary harm. Every time they head up a pole, they know that they might not come back down. Doing his regular job is dangerous enough as it is, but going up there for non-work related stuff just isn't worth the risk. The cat will figure it out. Cats are much smarter than we think that they are.

I'm also not a fan of the taxpayer's money being wasted for firefighters to retrieve cats from trees.

I understand that utility companies and fire departments offer these rescues in an effort to provide good community relations, and maybe some practice. I say take the cat's family out to dinner with a $50.00 gift certificate. The cat will be home by the time they return and no human lives will be risked. I'm sure that's a lot cheaper than paying for a line crew with a truck for an hour.

OK, I admit it. I don't like cats but only because they are smarter than we are.

and does he expect the cat to just hold on, while they climb back down......

In this case I wonder if the concern isn't practical as much as public relations: What about the potential for an outage if the cat gets into the primaries?

-John

A .22 would solve that problem, be much cheaper, and not require anyone to climb a pole.

I would probably just open a can of tuna.
Joe

I wouldn't worry about the cat unless its plainly obvious the cat is in some trouble and can't / won't get down. And besides IF the cat does get tangled in the primaries, isn't that one of the reasons the PoCo has " auto-reclosers" on most of their primary circuits?

A.D

I think the idea is to put the cat in that yellow grunt bag and lower it by the rope you see dangling at his feet.

If the cat did get into something hot, it would most likely be knocked off the pole, just like so many squirrels that get fried. If not, then the recloser would operate and someone would have to clean the carcass off and make the line back hot.

Just a little more background ...

This cat was recovered after spending at least two nights up the pole. Maybe three.

The Fire Dept actually offered to hose the cat off the pole. Let[s see ... water stream and 4160v lines ... not in my recipe book!

The cat was, indeed, placed in the bag and brought down that way. Good eye!

I am glad to see I can rely upon the caliber of help here at ECN

If some lineman would care to enlighten us as to there general procedure in such cases, I'd love to hear it. For example- do they kill the power to the neighborhood?

I doubt it. There may be an individual case where the clearances are such that there is the possiblity of an arc flash if the cat got frisky.

In general all effort is made to keep power on. There is less 'general procedure' than you might imagine! :P

Operational procedures with most PoCo's entail that the supply be left on.
As I have said here before, animal rescues from poles are not that un-usual.
But, having said that, you never use a ladder.
A bucket truck is almost a given thing, any animal can become really un-weildly when met with a guy trying to move them off of a cross-arm.
Having said all of that above, any animal is never in any danger of being killed unless they get between 2 phases at any voltage.
There is no reference to earth when you are up on a pole, unless there is a bare wire heading towards the bottom of the pole.
Even so, you might only be "rescuing a small animal", linemen have been killed doing this simple task.

Sorry, but that's just untrue. Even if the pole does not have a ground (all wood poles here do), wood is not an insulator for HV. While not as much current would flow as if the animal was between two phase wires, or phase to neutral, current would flow. Especially when the current would only have to track the wood at most a couple feet, and probably not that far, to get to the copper ground which is connected to earth and mainline neutral.

I'm curious about why you would say that. Do you use 3-wire delta in NZ? If so then I understand, it would work that way for you guys, but here pretty much everything is 4-wire wye circuits with phase-to-ground potential on every pole. As an aside, the most common animal frying event is when squirrels get on top of transformers and contact the stinger wire. We've started using rubber guards on top of the HV bushing, and 'insulated' stinger wire. I say 'insulated' because obviously it's not rated for HV but it is enough to keep the cutout from blowing when Alvin or Simon do something stupid.

You're right that it can be dangerous though. Perhaps 'operational procedure' should be to knock kitties off the pole with an extendo stick? :P

A fiberglass claw attachment/noose on a hotstick? That could be kinda fun, trying to grab the cat while it runs back and forth on the crossarm. Or not.