Squirrels, the cute, nut-eating, scurrying little playful rodents, are surely nice to watch for a laugh. However, they have been proven to be extremely destructive towards so many human applications. They are tiny and look harmless to us, but the havoc they wreck is massive logistically and thus financially.
Electrical disruptions caused by squirrels are common and widespread and can involve the disruption of power grids. Blackouts are happening and power grids are being shut down across the world. From Europe to America, and across Asia and Africa, we’re losing the cyberwar. But the enemy is not who you might think, it has been supposed that the threat to the internet, infrastructure, and services posed by squirrels may exceed that posed by terrorists.
Squirrels damage electrical distribution facilities by tunneling, by chewing through electrical insulation, or by simultaneously coming into contact with two conductors at different electrical potentials.
Squirrels of the order ‘Rodentia’, have four teeth in the front of their mouth that constantly grow throughout their lives. This ensures that their teeth don’t wear down to nubs from gnawing on nuts and other objects.
More than 200 different species of squirrels are known to be living across the world. Among the most prominent ones recorded to be living in the United States region are Grey Squirrel, Fox Squirrel, Red Squirrel, Ground Squirrel and Flying Squirrel.
Military installations depend on fail proof fiber optic connectivity and power connectivity, with crucial control cables and electrical wires to land based high speed reliable networks. But these furry creatures can bring everything to a standstill by knocking out key communications in a matter of seconds.
Power outages due to squirrels damaging cables occur so often that it has been ranked the third most common reason in the Washington area surpassing damage due to storms. They nibble and erode power grids that have been set-up, causing electricity failures in the entire region, where the grid supplies. This has been declared a national problem in the US because of the frequent occurring.
Squirrel-caused power outages represent a substantial problem as indicated by outage repair costs and by the proportion of outages caused by squirrels. Few of the incidences are cited below:
Squirrel ‘threat’ to critical infrastructure
BBC News | January 17, 2017
The real threat to global critical infrastructure is not enemy states or organizations but squirrels, according to one security expert. Cris Thomas has been tracking power cuts caused by animals since 2013. Squirrels, birds, rats, and snakes have been responsible for more than 1,700 power cuts affecting nearly 5 million people, he told a security conference.
He explained that by tracking these issues, he was seeking to dispel the hype around cyber-attacks.
His Cyber Squirrel 1 project was set up to counteract what he called the “ludicrousness of cyber-war claims by people at high levels in government and industry”, he told the audience at the Shmoocon security conference in Washington.
Squirrels topped the list with 879 “attacks”, followed by:
- birds – 434
- snakes – 83
- raccoons – 72
- rats – 36
- martens – 22
- frogs – three
He concludes that the damage done by real cyber-attacks – Stuxnet’s destruction of Iranian uranium enrichment centrifuges and disruption to Ukrainian power plants being the most high profile – was tiny compared to the “cyber-threat” posed by animals. Most of the animal “attacks” were on power cables but Mr. Thomas also discovered that jellyfish had shut down a Swedish nuclear power plant in 2013, by clogging the pipes that carry cool water to the turbines. He also discovered that there have been eight deaths attributed to animal attacks on infrastructure, including six caused by squirrels downing power lines that then struck people on the ground.
The point, of course, is not that we should declare war on rodents, but to find ways on coexisting with these creatures which are equally important for the nature while paving the way for development.
The common methods to repel those creatures are Trapping and Culling. Traps can cause injury to the squirrels and they might try to escape if it is open by mistake. Wire guards are used but they come with their own limitations. Squirrel guards are used to block a squirrel from climbing up the utility poles, although, squirrel guards reduce damage at transformers, they do not eliminate it, and the costs of guard installation on all transformers may be prohibitive for some companies. Employing traps and glue boards for trapping squirrels and then releasing them in the wild are also not fool-proof. They always find a way to come back.
What can be the effective steps taken to keep them away from the applications? Do we have anything reliable for avoiding the mishaps and incidences of outages?
Well, C Tech Corporation, an Indian company can offer a solution to overcome the damage caused by squirrels. RodrepelTM is an anti-rodent and animal aversive repellent which is extremely low in toxicity and extremely low hazard, environmentally safe solution. It is engineered using a unique set of complex compounds. It follows 6 pronged strategies which are extremely effective on rodents like the squirrel, rat, beaver, gopher, marmot, etc.
RodrepelTM is available in the form of a masterbatch, liquid concentrate, lacquer, wood polish additives and sprays.
The masterbatch can be incorporated in cable sheathing thereby making it rodent resistant. The product in the form of liquid concentrate can be diluted in paints and organic solvents and applied to cables. The lacquer which is a topical application that can be directly applied on the already installed wires and cables, cabinets and transformer boxes. The wood polish additives can be mixed with the wood polish and applied on wooden surfaces.
The Rodrepel™ Rodent Repellent Spray is an easy to use product that can be sprayed on wires and cables, electronic appliances, cabinets, so as to as avoid the rodents from entering them.
RodrepelTM is cost-effective, inert, and thermally stable and does not degrade on exposure to heat and sunlight. It is RoHS, RoHS2, RoHS3, REACH, NEA, EU BPR, APVMA compliant and FIFRA exempted.
Contact us at technical.marketing@ctechcorporation.com to know more about the use of our repellent products against rodent menace.
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