Airborne snake cuts power to 2,000

Bird drops prey onto New Mexico power line, shorts out electricity supply

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updated 9:20 p.m. ET July 12, 2006

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A power outage that blacked out about 2,000 customers in Las Cruces is being blamed on the combination of a snake and a bird.

The customers lost their electricity Tuesday after a bird dropped a bull snake on a power line, shorting out the line, El Paso Electric Co. spokeswoman Teresa Souza said.

"I know that's weird. ... I've never heard anything like that, and I've been working here for 10 years," Souza said.

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She said she did not know how large the snake was, and she would not speculate on what type of bird dropped it.

Power was restored in less than an hour.