Ron: The bull who deprived 800 Scottish homes of electricity with just one 'scratch'

A four-year-old Bull deprived electricity to 800 houses in Scotland. Ron, the bull managed to knock off a transformer from an electric pole while scratching his back.

The limousin bull, Ron is owned by Hazel Laughton, who was surprised that her cattle survived. Ron managed to escape an 11,000-volt shock as the box landed on the field. 

It is said that the transformer fell somewhere between 22:00 and 23:00 on Thursday at East Shawtonhill Farm in Chapelton.

According to Hazel Laughton, the power for around 800 houses were not restored before 04:00 on Friday morning. 

In an interview with BBC, she said: "We got up around 06:00 and we saw a big generator sitting at the bottom of our road, all linked up to the poles. We thought that was a bit strange.

"We went up to feed our cows and it was my husband that noticed the transformer box had been knocked off the pole.

"We put two and two together and realised our bull had been scratching against the telegraph pole and he had knocked the box off the pole. All the wires were down in the field as well."

Hazel posted a light-hearted apology on a local Facebook group page. She wrote:  "Our bull Ron would like to apologise to everyone in Chapelton and Strathaven for causing last nights power cut to over 700 homes!! He had an itchy bum so scratched it on the electricity pole and knocked the transformer box off! He’s just happy to be alive this morning after somehow escaping 11,000 volts and a large bump on the head! Think we will rename him ‘Sparky’!"