It's a Shock

Birds & electricity infrastructure: how you can help

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Let’s face it – how many of us can cope without electricity for a day? Or even an hour? We all need electricity for that first cup of coffee in the morning, to charge cell phones, to keep food and drinks cold, to heat water for the shower. But what does this need cost South Africa’s bird life?

Energy and communications infrastructure such as telephone lines, cell phone towers, power lines and wind turbines represent an important interface between humans and wildlife. These structures are often tall and they cross huge distances, increasing the opportunity for various kinds of interaction with wildlife, including electrocution and collisions with power lines. Eskom is responsible for providing the electricity required to meet the ever increasing needs of South Africans and its infrastructure is expanding daily. Its challenge is to find a balance between the interests of industry, residential electrification needs and the effective use and conservation of resources. 

Avian fatalities due to power line interactions were poorly understood in South Africa until the late 1970s and few mitigation measures were implemented. Public awareness of these fatalities has grown significantly over the past four decades, especially since the advent of social media, and national environmental legislation now mandates utilities to lessen their impacts on wildlife.