Bear climbs a light pole in New Mexico and dies of electrocution despite rescue attempts

In the middle of the countryside of Gladstone, a town located about 270 km east of Santa Fe along Highway 56 in New Mexico, traveler Shannon Mullens and her family witnessed a scene bordering on the unbelievable. Initially convinced she was observing an inanimate shape as she moved towards Oklahoma, the woman decided to reverse her gear to check the situation: on top of a power line pole there was an imposing bear, clinging with its front paws to the wooden cross arm.

The video recorded by Shannon Mullens, then released by the Storyful platform and reshared by official bodies such as the United States Department of the Interior on the social network The images showed the plantigrade in a clear state of distress, with its hind legs dangling in the air at a great height above the ground.

The 911 calls and the difficulties of the rescue

The unusual presence of the animal on the electrical structure prompted several passers-by to urgently alert the emergency services. In the recording of the 911 phone call included in the footage, a motorist reported the incident to the operations center in disbelief. Rescue workers and technicians from the New Mexico Department of Fish and Wildlife found themselves faced with an insurmountable technical and operational dilemma.

The choice to sedate the mammal using narcotic darts was immediately discarded, since the effect of the anesthetic would have caused the immediate loss of grip, causing a free fall from a dizzying height and a fatal impact on the ground. Despite attempts to coordinate a safe emergency intervention, the situation worsened: the animal was fatally struck by high voltage shocks before the rescuers arrived.

The escape instinct of bears and its precedents in the United States

The episode has reignited the debate on the coexistence between wildlife and human infrastructure. In fact, ethologists and wildlife experts explain that this specific behavior is linked to the species’ instinct for conservation. When a bear, particularly if young or scared, is frightened by vehicular traffic, the presence of people or the barking of dogs, it tends to treat electricity poles like tall and safe tree trunks, climbing the wooden structures to seek escape from the perceived danger. Similar events had already occurred in the past on American soil, as happened in 2021 in Arizona, where another specimen stuck on a power pole was successfully rescued by local authorities.