New Jersey blackout blamed on bird who dropped fish

A quirky cascade of events left a chunk of a New Jersey town powerless for hours, and the culprit? A fish. Yes, you read that right. Utility officials from Jersey Central Power and Light were left reeling when they found a bird-dropped fish on a transformer, igniting an explosive outage during the weekend.

According to NJ.com, Sayreville Police Department’s Lt. James Novak mused that the fish’s landing was pure perfection, obliterating the transformer in its wake. The police department commemorated the fish, affectionately named Gilligan, with a whimsical sketch and a cheeky eulogy.

As humor met electricity, the police department sent a lighthearted message to residents, warning them of the “armed and dangerous” feathered suspect flying south.

“Todays power outage was a major inconvenience for so many of our resident,” read the Facebook post. “Please let us not forget the victim in this senseless death. Gilligan was a hard working family man. He was a father to thousands of children. The suspect was last seen flying South. If you see him do not try to apprehend him. Although he isn’t believed to be armed he may still be very dangerous. If you have any information in this case please contact Det. John Silver who handles all of our fish cases.”