Shannon Mullens was driving with her family on a desolate highway in rural New Mexico on Monday morning when they spotted a black bear on top of a utility pole. It was about 22 feet off the ground, panting heavily near wires that carry 7,200 volts.

Ms. Mullens recorded a video of the bear as her fiancé called 911. The dispatcher told them to leave the bear alone and added that there was nothing the authorities could do because it could fall if they tried to tranquilize it or coax it down.

“It was shocking but also heartbreaking,” Ms. Mullens said in an interview on Thursday. “We just felt helpless. There was nothing we could do to help the guy out.”

By the time a utility crew and a sheriff’s deputy arrived at the pole east of Gladstone, an unincorporated community in northeast New Mexico, the bear had been electrocuted, Sheriff Curtis Skaggs of Union County, N.M., said in an interview. Its body was on the ground.

“The best thing we could have done is move people back and give it some breathing room and maybe we wouldn’t have had this unfortunate situation,” he said.

Video footage of the stranded bear, which circulated widely this week, highlighted the danger wild animals face when they come into contact with high-voltage power lines and other utility infrastructure. Scientists said that problem could become more persistent with accelerated land development and climate change.