A large number of properties in a town in New Jersey experienced a prolonged power outage due to an unexpected incident involving a fish dropped by a bird of prey.

Jersey Central Power and Light reported that their restoration efforts during the recent outage in the town of Sayreville unveiled the peculiar cause of the problem as being a fish that had landed on a transformer, resulting in an explosion.

According to Sayreville Police Department Lt. James Novak, the working hypothesis is that a bird had dropped the fish onto the transformer, leading to the outage.

In response, the Sayreville Police Department shared a post on Facebook, humorously featuring a sketch of the feathered “suspect” responsible for the incident.

The post also included a lighthearted memorial for the fish, jokingly named Gilligan by the department.

Sayreville Police Department said in a statement obtained by Newsflash on 13th August: “Todays power outage was a major inconvenience for so many of our residents.

“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.”