Electrocution and Power Line Collisions

The use of pylons and other above ground electrical equipment has been found to be a major factor behind the loss of raptor populations. The obvious solution to this, which has been already implemented in some European countries is the location of electrical lines underground. However, there are several problems with this approach. Power lines may be more difficult to locate for repairs when underground especially under concrete, laying of lines underground creates dangers for anyone who digs without knowledge of the location of the line, and this alternative has not spread to the majority of countries with vulture populations. Rural electrification is a major aspect of development in most developing nations; in such instances the 'green' environmental issues and the 'brown' human issues may be ranged against each other.

How this problem may be solved is now uncertain. Like the pesticide issues, human population growth is a major factor. As urban areas expand and roads are built, power lines have become ubiquitous features of the landscape. Solutions such as building lines away from areas of vulture foraging are not realistic especially in developing countries. Alternative designs have made little impact on electrocutions and possibly less on collisions. Rapidly electrifying countries in the Global South are ready candidates for the expansion of such lines. The future of vultures for this issue rests on alternative designs that discourage perching, lower the risk of birds connecting with two live wires, more visible structures, and possibly gradual acceptance of at least some wires underground. This cannot be anything more than a gradual process, considering the socio-economic contexts under which it would be attempted.

Wind Turbines. Problems with wind turbines are similar, as they are also an aspect of development; cleaner, greener energy sources are increasingly seen as manifestation of the twenty-first century's approach to human development.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on one's viewpoint, these developments are currently mostly limited to North America and Europe. The prospects of huge numbers of wind turbines being built in the savannas of Africa or South America, or the densely populated plains of south east Asia are at present bleak. Nevertheless, wind turbines are presently being developed in China, Japan, India, the Philippines and South Korea. The beginnings for Africa are in South Africa, Morocco and Kenya and for South America, Brazil and Chile.

Currently, there is no clear solution for bird collisions. Several possibilities can be mooted, e.g., changes in the design and/or size of the turbines, surrounding the turbines with high fencing, driving raptors from the location (e.g., more sanitary surroundings) and locating turbines far from possible raptor habitats (e.g., in the sea). Currently, some wind turbines are located in the sea, therefore distant from vulture presence. However, many are located in precisely the type of area vultures might soar over; open windy, thermal source regions. More monitoring of the location and impact on birds may be needed, but an immediate solution is plainly not currently possible.

Air Collisions. Air collisions are even more serious than turbine collisions, as aeroplanes are moving bodies. Airports are also usually built on flat land near cities and towns, areas that produce strong winds and thermals where vultures and other birds practice soaring flight. Therefore, to solve this problem in the vulture's favor there must be acknowledgment that the birds are worth saving, this justifying the costly exercise of redesigning airports or creating landcover developments that would reduce the problem, rather than simply killing the birds.

Some researchers have suggested expensive methods, to avoid collisions: removing the environmental factors that attract birds to the airport zone, such as refuse, carcasses, food markets, farms, livestock rearing and even human settlements (for vultures that are attracted to human settlements such as Black and Turkey vultures in the New World, and Hooded vultures in the Old World). Other possibilities would be to attract vultures to distant areas, away from the airports, and also from the main approach the aeroplanes use for connecting to the airport.

The future for ameliorate actions is linked to the increasing size and speed of commercial aeroplanes, the increased number and size of airports, and the increased use of small supersonic military aircraft. These developments mean that matters may be getting worse for vultures. Although none of the larger vulture species have been documented as strongly attracted to urban settlements, the problems of shared air space (with aircraft) in high thermals and orographic lift over mountains, preferences for foraging over highlands and also flat open land, and the long hours spent soaring (one vulture could pass twenty or more aeroplanes, miles from an airport in one day). Therefore, there are natural reasons from the perspective of vulture ecology and also from aeronautical developments and landscape design that may ensure that the problems increase rather than decline. This might especially be the case if vulture numbers increase. Possible externalities that may produce a brighter future include the redesign of the airport context to discourage vulture presence, by the methods suggested above or possibly vultures may adapt to the presence of aeroplanes.

While these options may be practicable in North America, the application of such measures in the Global South is less certain. In these countries there are fewer aeroplanes and airports, a situation which may change with increased populations and transport needs. Consideration of avian needs when designing new airports will depend on the awareness of conservation problems. Otherwise a simple solution might be mooted; kill the birds so aeroplanes are safer. In Asia, the question would be whether the vulture sympathy that developed around the diclofenac crisis would translate into more permanent perspectives that would resolve collision problems in the vultures' favor. Africa might face more intractable problems, as there may be less knowledge of the declining status of vultures, there is greater difficulty in assessing the factors for vulture decline and the organization of conservation is weaker (with the possible exception of South Africa). The greater socio-economic and environmental upheavals in Africa may also preclude conservation priorities for this problem.