File Image (AP Photo)
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) – A snake is being blamed for disrupting power at a Hudson Valley hospital after it slithered into a switch box outside the building.
Officials at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie say backup generators kicked on after the main power supply was lost Tuesday afternoon when a common-variety snake got into a switch box about 150 feet from the building. Workers found the dead snake in the power box.
Hospital officials say there were no patient care disruptions caused by the outage, which lasted from 3 p.m. Tuesday to 1 a.m. Wednesday. Some emergency room cases had to be diverted to other hospitals.
While squirrels and other small animals have been known to get into electrical equipment and cause outages, a utility spokesman says it’s the first time he’s heard of a snake causing a short circuit.
(Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)








5 Comments
Pingback: Snake In Electrical Box Causes NY Hospital Outage | Yamaha Portable Generators
I agree, one should have a degree in herpetology if they’re going to post pictures regarding reptiles.
August 26, 2010 at 12:20 pm
It just indicates how incompentent or biased the media is. This is obviously a right wing snake.
August 26, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Why is that sad.
August 26, 2010 at 11:00 am
Pretty sad when you have to put a pit viper as the picture when it was an ordinary garder snake.
August 26, 2010 at 10:50 am