The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Feb. 3, edition that a Hydro One spokesman says after a raccoon knocked out power to thousands of people in downtown Toronto, that the utility is looking at ways to make sure the city's unofficial mascot stays out of transmission stations. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that Hydro One officials say about 7,000 customers in the city's downtown were without power for more than two hours Friday night after a lone raccoon made contact with a transformer at a transmission station in the Church-Wellesley area. Hydro One spokesman Tiziana Baccega Rosa says crews were able to confirm that the outage was caused by the raccoon "because the animal was unfortunately there on site and had perished when they arrived." She says animals are often attracted to the warmth emanating from power stations. Ms. Baccega Rosa says Hydro One takes the situation "very seriously" and will look at "whatever measures" it can put in place to prevent similar outages from happening again. She pointed to the utility's other animal protection efforts, such as when crews build elevated platforms to help dissuade osprey from nesting on top of electricity poles.