A proposed North Carolina wind farm could kill up to 20 bald eagles a year according to a new estimate by the Fish and Wildlife Service, WITN in North Carolina reports:
ANCHOR: The Fish and Wildlife Service says a wind farm slated for farmland here in the east could risk lives of endangered bald eagles. The estimate from the federal agency says a wind farm proposed just south of the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge could further endanger bald eagles and kill up to 20 of them a year. That estimate all based on bird estimates in Beaufort County. The company a part of the project, Invenergy in Chicago, says it is committed to the project, but is looking for ways to minimize the impact on wildlife.
Eagles are often the collateral damage of wind turbines:
The Pine Tree Wind Farm in the Tehachapi Mountains is believed to be responsible for the death of eight federally protected golden eagles.
"Birds are smacked out of the air by the blades of high-speed wind turbines and are killed or horribly injured," a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told the Free Beacon.
Wind turbines have posed a threat to a number of bird species for years. In a 2007KQED report, local biologist Shawn Smallwood described the problem in detail.
"We usually found the bird carcasses nearby the turbines," he said. "Usually they were dismembered. A lot of times their heads were knocked off, or a wing, or the bird was cut in half lengthwise or across the middle."