Power line ignites squirrel. Squirrel ignites Camry.
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ddrhero 2:45PM (10/20/2007)
Poor little guy must of been a honda fan
Reply
Will 2:42PM (10/20/2007)
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..."
Reply
RJ 2:44PM (10/20/2007)
Blah... poor squirrel did us all a favor.
Reply
HotRodzNKustoms 2:50PM (10/20/2007)
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.
Reply
RJ 2:59PM (10/20/2007)
^haha. Thats probably been the most excitement that a Toyota has ever seen.
TEM 3:36PM (10/20/2007)
Not just a saint, but a martyr too.
dskinner 3:03PM (10/20/2007)
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.
Reply
Nate 3:10PM (10/20/2007)
"Life comes at you fast."
Hope she had Nationwide! :-)
Reply
Dave 3:33PM (10/20/2007)
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)
Reply
paul34 3:21PM (10/20/2007)
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.
Reply
swe 3:34PM (10/20/2007)
now that's a martyr. RIP
Reply
Ken 3:40PM (10/20/2007)
Why can't that happen to my Camry?
Reply
david 3:43PM (10/20/2007)
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?
Reply
Rogue_G 4:24PM (10/20/2007)
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 4:38PM (10/20/2007)
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.
Reply
ugg.tryptophan 6:13PM (10/20/2007)
next thing you know we'll have flaming squirrels mating with scions
jamey 6:40PM (10/20/2007)
I bet that was already commercial.
motorman 6:58PM (10/20/2007)
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
Reply
Bryan 7:24PM (10/20/2007)
Poor squirrel. Camry deserved it but not this way!
Reply
94 taurus owner 10:41PM (10/20/2007)
You know I read this this morning and it is about 9:09 pm and I'm still laughing!!!!!
Reply