The rescue of the wild animals required the power grid to be shut down, causing parts of the city to lose power.
Howler monkeys caused a power outage in Santa Maria on Friday afternoon (14th). The animal entered Santa Maria substation 3, located in an industrial area, resulting in an emergency network shutdown to allow rescue teams to operate safely. The measure left several areas without power in the middle of an extremely hot afternoon.
CPFL Transmissão reported that the cause of the problem was the presence of wild animals in the building. It was later confirmed to be a howler monkey. The military fire department was alerted to at least two short circuits at a substation near Femsa (Coca-Cola).
To avoid danger during the rescue, the network supplying power to the city had to be temporarily shut down. The animal was removed alive by firefighters and taken to Criadouro San Blas, also in Santa Maria, for evaluation and care.
“Load was restored at 4:34 p.m.,” CPFL said in a statement.