A Bayonne, NJ squirrel sadly met his maker this week after chewing through an overhead power line. Apparently unaware that eating through shielded electrical cable does not yield a pleasant surprise in the middle like what one might find in, say, a Tootsie Pop, it was "Flame On, Johnny!" for our furry friend. Off the powerline he went, falling onto a 2006 Toyota Camry parked below. In a posthumous act of defiance that may or may not have been an editorial statement directed at Toyota's "Committee to Create Interesting Cars," the little critter somehow managed to slide into the engine compartment, turning the sedan into an impromptu funeral pyre. According to The Jersey Journal, the car's owner, Lindsay Millar, is fully insured. Her coverage presumably includes arson by flaming squirrel. [Source: The Jersey Journal via Amazon.com Automotive Editors' Blog]
Squirrel photo by grendel|khan. Used with permission via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Will @ Oct 20th 2007 2:42PM
Fantastic writeup! Poor squirrel, though... I'm sure his last thoughts were, "Jeez, I sure hope I land on a Camry, instead of something nice..."
RJ @ Oct 20th 2007 2:44PM
Blah... poor squirrel did us all a favor.
ddrhero @ Oct 20th 2007 2:45PM
Poor little guy must of been a honda fan
HotRodzNKustoms @ Oct 20th 2007 2:50PM
I motion to have this squirrel dubbed a saint. He did us all a favor. By taking another boring soulless car off the road.
R.I.P. St.Squirrel of Bayonne, NJ. Your greatness may never be fully understood by 'yota drivers.
RJ @ Oct 20th 2007 2:59PM
^haha. Thats probably been the most excitement that a Toyota has ever seen.
TEM @ Oct 20th 2007 3:36PM
Not just a saint, but a martyr too.
dskinner @ Oct 20th 2007 3:03PM
Wow, what an interesting story. Talk about Toyota haters, though Toyota does tend to flip off the auto enthusiast and offer free hugs to the masses of the automotive market.
Nate @ Oct 20th 2007 3:10PM
"Life comes at you fast."
Hope she had Nationwide! :-)
paul34 @ Oct 20th 2007 3:21PM
Wait, so did they find the squirrel, and chewed power line, and piece this all together, or did someone actually see the entire incident?
Squirrel R.I.P., although if he was just hanging off the power line, it shouldn't have electrocuted him. But since squirrels don't do that, I'm assuming he was sitting/standing in a tree when he chewed through the line.
Why would he do that, thoguh? Squirrels are stupid creatures but not THAT stupid.
Dave @ Oct 20th 2007 3:33PM
Just to show you how biased we are against VW. An R32 catches fire, it's a manufacturing defect. A Camery does and it's an act of Squirrel-terrorism!!!
Jeeeesh!
(jk)
swe @ Oct 20th 2007 3:34PM
now that's a martyr. RIP
Ken @ Oct 20th 2007 3:40PM
Why can't that happen to my Camry?
david @ Oct 20th 2007 3:43PM
Poor squirrel.. He just wanted to put the Camry out of it's misery.
Or could it have been a savey Toyo salesperson that trained the squirrel to get repeat customers?
Rogue_G @ Oct 20th 2007 4:24PM
A Camry burned a dead squirrel caracass.
IMPORTS BLAH BLAH BORING TOYOTA'S AMIRITE?!
I'd accuse you all of acting like flame-baiting bots, but that'd be an insult to bots.
jamey @ Oct 20th 2007 4:38PM
Perhaps he was in cahoots with the lexus mating peacock? Clearly the message to Toyota is to be greener or the environment will strike back.
ugg.tryptophan @ Oct 20th 2007 6:13PM
next thing you know we'll have flaming squirrels mating with scions
jamey @ Oct 20th 2007 6:40PM
I bet that was already commercial.
motorman @ Oct 20th 2007 6:58PM
in the winter so they do not have to struggle thru the snow to get to the feeders the squirrels run the power lines near our house and every once in a while the lights flicker and you hear a "bang" and a on fire squirrel come falling down from the power lines. the wires are bare and if they touch a ground they go up in smoke
Bryan @ Oct 20th 2007 7:24PM
Poor squirrel. Camry deserved it but not this way!
Galley @ Oct 20th 2007 9:34PM
YOu know how sometimes you will see crosses painted on the street where someone was killed? Here in Greenville, SC there is one painted cross with a squirrel silhouette next to it.