The 53-year-old bird trapping enthusiast died instantly when his modified pole contacted high-voltage cables while pursuing his hobby in Kampung Bukit Tok Chom, Pendang.

by Fernando Fong

August 27, 2025

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 A 53-year-old man died from electrocution while trying to catch birds using a modified pole that came into contact with high-voltage power lines in Kedah on Tuesday (26 August).

Sahrulnizam Ramli from Kampung Hujung Ketun was found dead at the scene in Kampung Bukit Tok Chom, Pendang, with severe burns across his body.

Pendang District Police Chief Superintendent Rodzi Abu Hassan said members of the public discovered the victim’s body and alerted authorities.

Police received a report from the public who found the body of a man with burns all over his body lying on the ground. Investigating officers who arrived at the scene examined the victim’s body and found no signs of criminal activity.

Police found a modified pole used for bird trapping still caught on the high-voltage electrical cable that caused the fatal shock, while the victim’s Modenas Kriss motorcycle was discovered nearby.

Social media posts showed the victim’s motorcycle parked in tall grass near power lines, with images of the electrical cables visible overhead.https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpenangkini%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0TRWZw6mSJmrmL2x2ixpq5VEYgxT6wge84wFPjcBm4kQMAtNVtwPx7EMiQUoHHQtEl&show_text=true&width=500

Public Reaction Mixed

The tragedy raised questions on social media about bird trapping practices, a popular pastime in rural Malaysia.

While many offered condolences, some criticised the hobby as harmful to wildlife.

“Please don’t catch birds… they have children to feed. They should be free,” wrote one Facebook user, urging people to release any caged birds at home.

Others in the bird trapping community warned about safety precautions, particularly avoiding electrical cables during rainy weather when lightning strikes are more likely.

One commenter noted similar incidents involving farm machinery coming into contact with power lines in the same area in previous years.

Police have classified the case as a sudden death with no criminal elements.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7268598943502568706?lang=en-US&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.therakyatpost.com%2Fnews%2Fmalaysia%2F2025%2F08%2F27%2Fmalaysian-bird-trapper-dies-after-electric-shock-from-high-voltage-cable%2F

Why Birds Are Safe on Power Lines

Several commenters pointed out the scientific reason why birds can safely perch on electrical wires, while humans touching them with poles face deadly consequences.

Birds are safe because they only touch one wire at a time and don’t provide a path for electricity to flow to the ground.

Their bodies don’t complete an electrical circuit since they’re not simultaneously touching the wire and the ground or another wire.

However, when humans use metal poles or other conductive materials to reach power lines, they create a pathway for electricity to flow through their bodies to the ground, resulting in electrocution.

The length of fishing rods or bird-catching poles also increases the risk of accidentally bridging the gap between different electrical conductors.

“This is basic physics – birds don’t get shocked because they’re not grounded,” explained one commenter.

But when you’re standing on the ground holding a long pole that touches the wire, you become the path for the electricity.

Date: August 26, 2025

Author(s): Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

We take comfort in a small but positive bend in the moral universe’s arc toward justice for animals after a Wyoming grand jury’s indictment of a man for shocking and callous cruelty to a gray wolf. He is charged with running over the wolf with his snowmobile in late February 2024, dragging her into a local watering hole in Daniel, Wyoming (population 148), taunting and tormenting her as she lay injured and bound in front of patrons, and finally, taking her outside to kill her. He now faces a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of $5000, under Wyoming’s anti-cruelty statute.

On its face, of course, this is despicable conduct. In a more advanced and morally principled setting, there would be resounding consensus that such an action is deserving of punishment. But this happened in Wyoming, one of those states still burdened by a longstanding prejudice that—whatever our ethical obligations to domestic animals might be—we have no such duties to wildlife. There are other states where this is so, and yet this case, as much as any in our memories, highlights a striking contradiction in social, cultural and legal conceptions of animal cruelty. That’s what makes this indictment a big deal.

After this revolting incident came to public attention, members of our animal protection law team supported Wyoming advocates and organizations in their efforts to persuade authorities that certain specific actions of the suspect met the definition of both misdemeanor and felony cruelty under existing Wyoming law, and that the state could and should prosecute him. It was clear to us that there was no refuge for him in the statute’s stated exemptions concerning wildlife.

We understood, too, that there is a supremely important principle at issue in this case, one that we wish was more widely understood and accepted after nearly 160 years of organized animal protection work in the United States. All animals, including wild animals, are deserving of society’s basic concern, moral consideration and protection from the worst kind of cruelty, the kind so horribly and hauntingly on display that night at the Green River Bar.

Nor did this cruelty take place in a vacuum. It occurred in the very region of the country in which the states with resident wolf populations, unrestrained by federal law and the listing of wolves under the Endangered Species Act, have all but declared war on them. Their assault has taken the form of hostile state legislation or rules authorizing higher killing quotas, authorization of cruel methods of killing, and permitting the killing of wolves without even a license. And that’s not to mention the political and practical support that the rapacious governments of several of these states are receiving from Congress and the Trump administration, in the form of malice-driven legislation, appropriations mischief and other maneuvers.

Preserve ESA protections for wolves and grizzly bears!

In early August, a federal judge in Montana ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ran afoul of the law when it denied a petition to protect gray wolves in the Rocky Mountains under the ESA. This ruling, which came in response to a petition we filed with partner organizations, means that the agency must now revisit the question of whether to grant federal protections to wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, along with portions of three other states, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

Of the many things that sadden us about this deeply disturbing incident, one of the most disconcerting is the fact that only one patron of the bar chose to report what occurred that night to law enforcement or other government authorities. Even now, some residents of Sublette County continue to express their worry and anxiety about the unwelcome attention and tension that the indictment will bring.

We see it differently. Because one person present that night decided to bear witness, and one County Attorney, despite opposition from the state fish and game department and some predictable local interests, is pursuing this prosecution, we can mark and remember a small but certain move toward greater justice in the world.

Sara Amundson is president of Humane World Action Fund.