{"id":303559,"date":"2026-07-23T07:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T07:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303559\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T07:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T07:14:27","slug":"head-scratching-video-shows-hulking-bear-perched-atop-utility-pole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303559\/","title":{"rendered":"Head-scratching video shows hulking bear perched atop utility pole"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Unbelievable footage of a hulking bear stranded atop a utility pole in New Mexico has gone viral online, leaving viewers gobsmacked by the beast\u2019s unusual resting place. <\/p>\n<p>The jaw-dropping video posted on X was reshared by the US Department of the Interior on Wednesday and racked up tens of thousands of views. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe appreciate the enthusiasm for American Energy Dominance, but this isn\u2019t what we meant,\u201d the department <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Interior\/status\/2079983195135590635?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">joked in its post.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.56054688;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40061898\" width=\"331\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-22-at-40645-PM.jpg\" alt=\"A brown bear perched on a utility pole against a blue sky with white clouds.\" class=\"wp-image-40061898\"  \/>A traveler witnessed an unusual sight while driving through New Mexico on Monday, July 20, spotting a bear atop a utility pole. Shannon Mullens via Storyful<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40061930\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-22-at-41724-PM.jpg\" alt=\"A brown bear straddles a power line pole under a cloudy sky.\" class=\"wp-image-40061930\"  \/>Shannon Mullens told Storyful she was driving from Red River, New Mexico, to Oklahoma along Highway 56 when she spotted the bear. Shannon Mullens via Storyful<\/p>\n<p>The clip \u2014 which was verified to be real \u2014 shows the panting bear gripping the crossarm of the power line pole with its front paws while letting its hind legs hang down in rural Gladstone on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>A 911 caller behind the camera tells the operator, \u201cI\u2019m calling to report a bear on top of a light pole,\u201d and, having already received reports about the bear, the operator informs the caller that \u201cI\u2019ve already called Game and Fish, and they said there\u2019s nothing that they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The operator goes on to explain that if wildlife professionals tranquilize the wayward bear, it would meet a grim fate from the fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Shannon Mullens, who witnessed the unusual occurrence, told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/videos\/bear-spotted-atop-utility-pole-184534204.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Storyful<\/a> she was traveling from New Mexico to Oklahoma on Highway 56 when she spotted the unfortunate ursid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really didn\u2019t believe what we saw at first, so we turned around to get another look,\u201d Mullens said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first, we thought that the bear was dead, until we got closer to it and then we realized that he was still alive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tragically, the bear died some time later. <\/p>\n<p>The New Mexico Department of Fish and Wildlife informed The Post that despite the best efforts of local authorities, the animal was fatally electrocuted before it could have been helped.<\/p>\n<p>The head-scratching scenario has happened before \u2014 including in 2021, when another bear <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/06\/09\/bear-found-trapped-on-arizona-utility-pole\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">got stuck atop a utility pole in Arizona<\/a> but was safely rescued. <\/p>\n<p>Wildlife experts believe the odd occurrence happens when a bear \u2014 especially a young or startled one \u2014 is spooked by people, traffic, or dogs, and scales the utility pole exactly like they would a tall tree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unbelievable footage of a hulking bear stranded atop a utility pole in New Mexico has gone viral online,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1457,4091,21996,9,11,10,6781,58,1688,2197],"class_list":["post-303559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-animals","tag-bears","tag-new-mexico","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-science","tag-us-news","tag-viral-videos","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}