subject: Animal-industry Clash: Number Of Victims Increases [print this page] It's enough to make a cat laugh - that is how the recent developments on Manitoba Hydro might be described. Thousands of people from Winnipeg region have stayed without electricity because of a raccoon, which managed to get on the station and damaged the necessary equipment. Specifically, because of animal's curiosity two lines of power have touched, leading to electrical arc appearance and 3,5 thousand villages in St. Vital, Fort Harry, and Charleswood regions lost their access to electric power. Certainly, the situation was resolved, in a cost of raccoon's life. It was a second accident on the station with animal engagement. On May 15th a goose has also performed the same gest, and besides electricity disability a couple traffic lights were de-energized. Following car accidents, which happened immediately as one could guess, were luckily without seriously injured victims. All in all, such accidents on the electric stations are no news, but it is really confusing and dissatisfying that such huge giants of industry cannot execute these simple precautions.
Moreover, it is not associated with Canadian stations solely, as far as there are multiple examples of animal-factory clashes, which usually do not benefit our little brothers. And here is the moment where animal rights protestors appear on the stand with their usual claim of human attacks on natural environment. Indeed, this is an issue that might be a point of consideration and estimation of people's activity.
For instance, thousands of bats and birds are killed on wind power systems. On the one hand, they appear to be resources of eco-friendly energy, investing no damage into ecology and environment. Almost, one could answer. American zoologists thoroughly observed the activity of wind stations in Pennsylvania in contradiction to neglecting treatment to their worries from local authorities. During several years of study their turbines have gathered lots of dead bodies of birds. Scientists estimated that if to slightly change the turbine speed, for example, configure them to start work with wind speed 4,9 m/s, the number of birds and bats dying at some point will decrease, and if the wind turbines start spinning when the wind speed is 6,4 m/s, the death of animals is likely to be reduced approximately six times. As wind turbines will spin less, many animals will be safe, especially during mass migrations.
It is also appropriate to mention that lots of animals suffer from electric stations establishment in the area of their habitat. It makes them leave their native lands just because of the noise, produced by the industrial facility.
