They want to kill cats because of bird deaths but guess what - men kill more birds than cats ever can

When the Wisconsin DNR wanted to have a hunting season on cats their favorite argument was that junk science study produced by the hunting crowd that overpopulates the science departments of the University of Wisconsin.

You remember the one that said feral cats kill hundreds of thousands of songbirds annually.

Since that time, commercial interest are lobbying for permission to built wind generators next to the Horicon Marsh, a Bird Sanctuary. Suddenly bird kills are really not that important compared to all that income the utility companies will harvest with those big blades.
Wind energy makes profits for the utility companies whereas solar energy cannot bring in that monthly tax as easily. So the utility companies are pushing wind mills as the best "clean" energy for Wisconsin.

DOWNWIND OF HORICON

In early September, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin affirmed its
approval of a large wind-farm just east of Horicon National Wildlife Refuge when
it denied a petition for rehearing.

The wind turbine project has been
the source of controversy in the area for many months because of its potential
threat to wildlife and its proximity to the Horicon Marsh. The turbines may now
be constructed as close as two miles from the marsh, an Ramsar wetland of
international significance.

The project area will cover 32,400 acres,
consisting predominately of farmland. Horicon Marsh System Advocates (HMSA), a
local group, had filed a petition on 3 August with the commission, citing
concerns about the impacts on wildlife at the nearby Horicon Marsh.

Other organizations had joined HMSA in expressing opposition to the
project, including the National Wildlife Refuge Association, the Audubon
Society, and the American Bird Conservancy. This case has been watched closely
since it pits rival conservation forces in contention, ostensibly "clean energy"
vs. "safe wildlife."

Nevertheless, those who tried to have the project
physically pushed back - closer to four or five miles from the marsh - were not
opposed to wind power per se, but stressed the potential damage of close
proximity (e.g. to waterfowl and cranes using the fields close to the marsh).

When the governor, Jim Doyle, would not intervene, the Public Service
Commission rejected the appeal. Local opposition, however, continues to be
strong, and more legal battles are in play. At the same time, a Government
Accountability Office (GAO) study released mid-month stated that wind power does
not appear to be responsible for a significant number of bird deaths in the
context of other sources of avian mortality.

Yet, findings in the GAO
study also suggested that some state and local officials may not have the
expertise necessary to determine whether a proposed wind farm would harm
wildlife. The report recommended that federal officials take a more active role
in assisting state and local officials to analyze the impacts of bird and bat
deaths caused by wind turbines.

JS On Line

"We're effectively setting up a crane Cuisinart, because birds haven't evolved to fly through a dense, high-speed development like this one," said Evan Hirsche, president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, which lobbies on behalf of the refuges.


Wis State Journal

Some of the turbines of the 200- megawatt project could be within two miles of the border of the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, a refuge that was named by the National Wildlife Refuge Association as one of the nation's six most threatened refuges.

AND THEN THERE IS THIS:

From the Wis State Journal by Ron Seely

The birds were killed the night of Sept. 13-14 at the WMTV tower."

There were birds all over the place," said Steven Ugoretz, a DNR environmental specialist who works on tower-related issues.

Searchers found 172 birds around the base of the 1,100-foot tower.

Crows, cats and other scavengers took another 200 or more, and Ugoretz estimates more birds likely died because no one searched a heavily wooded area just north of the tower.

A similar kill occurred the night of Sept. 7-8, Ugoretz said.

Such kills are not unusual during spring and fall migrations, though Ugoretz and Matteson said they are an increasing concern because of multiple threats to the world's songbirds. Most of the dead birds Sept. 14 were warblers.
Other birds included red-eyed vireos,
American redstarts,
ovenbirds,
common yellowthroats
and a rose-breasted grosbeak.

Matteson and Ugoretz said they want to form a task force of bird experts and communications industry representatives to study the issue. (Greenconsciousness Notes: Notice they have formed a committee composed of the killers and profiteers to solve a problem they have known about for years but only want to solve when it became known to the public)

Possible solutions include using lights to illuminate wires and changing the blinking frequency of red warning lights, Matteson said.

A telephone message left for WMTV's general manager was not immediately returned Wednesday
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If any of you would like to take action about the 400+ song birds killed by the Channel 15 television tower (in Madison), here's a web page that is collecting suggestions for ways to prevent this type of thing from happening in the future.

http://my.execpc.com/CE/5F/idzikoj/passerines/towerkill.htm

There is a discussion of this issue on Madison's newspaper forum here.

To protect feral cats as well as birds, Oct 16th is A National Day of Unity