Three hundred and twenty six bats and 123 birds were found dead beneath the wind turbines at Tug Hill Plateau, according to a story in The Daily Star on May 31.
This is just the beginning. Imagine this: many birds eat weed seeds, harmful insects and other agricultural pests. One bobwhite may rid a field of 15,000 weed seeds. Numerous birds eat insects that damage crops. Robins and sparrows are highly effective against cabbageworms, tomato worms and leaf beetles.
Bats also perform a valuable service for people by eating hundreds of insects per day. Many bat species feed on insects that fly at night and they have the unique ability to capture them in flight. Bats also eat large insects found on the ground.
Both birds and bats play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature. Without them, the insect population would grow at an alarming rate. This will create a huge impact on the farms, people and animals in our area.
More consideration and belief need to be given to the vast research that has been done regarding the impact of wind turbines on our environment before decisions are made again that will profit a few and harm many.
Teri Schlobohm
Hobart
12 June 2007
[Editor’s note: The numbers given here are only those carcasses found during scheduled surveys at a few selected turbines. The surveyors then accounted for scavenger removal, search efficiency, and proportion of towers searched to estimate that 120 turbines killed 372 to 1,151 birds and 1,824 to 2,943 bats during the 5-month study period in 2006. Extrapolating that to an entire year and the now 195 turbines on Tug Hill means that at least 1,451 to 4,489 birds and 7,114 to 11,478 bats are killed by the turbines annually.]
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/06/16/look-at-impact-of-wind-turbines/