BIRD ON A WIRE

Bird hanging on a wire – A silent tragic death by electrocution.

Can we imagine a species, life can reach to a level of extinction, where electrocution & urbanization is the major cause? We the human, sitting in our wired homes connected to the world, cannot imagine that these unshielded power wires & transformers can be one of the big causes. Thousands of birds pay the price for our lifestyle.

This is quite unheard of in our mountains & remote islands. Is this the tilt of balance towards growth & lifestyle viz nature? The birds in our farmlands get electrocuted not mainly due to high voltage overhead cables which have large distance among wires. Rather most of the deaths occur at a low voltage of 500 volts where conductors are placed together which are unshielded too. I leave it to the electricity distribution companies why these cables cannot be shielded.

Our thirst for more power has paved way for windmills. Our dry windy area of western Rajasthan has seen a lot of windmill farms in the last decade. One such bird, Indian Bustard, has faced so many casualties that hardly 150 birds are left in the wild. This being very heavy & with Poor eyesight caused its population to dwindle other than hunting for fun.

I leave & trust our policymaker to plan with a balance tilted towards nature, so to these unblessed without vocal cord can pay their silent salutation to sunrise before their sunset.