For those who have lost copper, its good to know that sometimes you can have a win:

Shock burns cable thief beyond recognition

From correspondents in Berlin
October 09, 2007 01:27am
Article from: Reuters

A THIEF in Germany was charred beyond recognition by a 10,000 volt electric shock when he tried to steal a live copper cable.

Police in the western city of Duisburg found the 32-year-old man's blackened remains by a set of cable cutters and pile of non-live cables he had already stolen.

Only because one of his hands survived incineration were officers able to identify the man as a German of Kazakh origin.

“His fingerprints were already logged on police files,” a local police spokesman said.

“The force of the shock was so great that the hand was severed from his body.”

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22555158-23109,00.html