Across the United States, a series of recent incidents highlights how often squirrels are responsible for power outages. In different towns and cities, these small animals are getting into electrical equipment and causing short circuits that cut electricity to hundreds or even thousands of people at a time. What might sound like a joke at first actually shows up repeatedly in local news reports, turning squirrels into a recurring cause of disruption for everyday life and local economies.

In places like Lafayette and Grand Blanc, outages blamed on squirrels have left large areas without power until utility crews could repair the damage. Some reports go even further and describe squirrels as the leading cause of power outages in parts of the Midwest, underscoring how serious and common the problem has become. Together, these stories show that while utilities spend a lot of time thinking about storms and technical failures, seemingly harmless wildlife can be just as big a threat to a stable power supply.

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Source: http://scadamag.infracritical.com/index.php/2025/11/20/updated-ninja-squirrels-continue-plaguing-electric-utilities/