Power Lines: The Silent Killers

Electricity lines have turned into a major threat to several large bird species, requiring prompt remedies to ensure the survival of many endangered avian species.

- Asad Rahmani

For India’s beleaguered wildlife, particularly those in the open countryside, everything which can go wrong is happening. While poaching – the main threat a few decades ago – may have decreased due to public awareness and strict laws, new insidious and silent threats in the form of free-ranging stray dogs, road-kills and power line wires have come up in recent years. Although a few papers and articles touched upon the first two issues, the last issue has not gained the attention of conservationists and decision-makers in India as much as it ought to.

I realised the enormousness of the problem posed by power lines when I recently attended the Flyway Summit in Abu Dhabi organized by BirdLife International and the Houbara Foundation. Birds getting killed due to collisions with power lines or electrocution is a global problem, ranging from India to Mongolia to the USA. The magnitude varies from habitat to habitat and from species to species. For example, raptors, cranes, bustards, swans, ducks, and vultures are more prone than smaller species.

Even in a vast and thinly populated country like Mongolia, 4,000 Saker Falcons (