SERVICE ON PANAMA CANAL TRANSMISSION LINE INTERRUPTED TWICE BY ANIMALS
Panama Canal Zone (JFK+50) On May 11, 1925, The Evening Star reports that Governor M.L. Walker* has informed the War Department "service on the 44,000 volt transmission line of the canal was twice interrupted by animals recently."
The first incident was by a sloth who survived the encounter with the line although "burned and singed in several places."
The second was by a porcupine who "ran on the line in an upright position" and was eventually brought to the ground with "considerable difficulty."
*Meriwether Lewis Walker (1869-1947) graduated from the USMA at West Point in 1893 & served in the US Army Corps of Engineers. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General. MLW was governor of the PCZ 1924-1928.
SOURCE
"This Sloth Fast Enough to Stop 44,000-Volt Line," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., May 11, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
