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High speed trains said to be causing bird massacre
BIRD BLOODBATH:
Birdwatchers in the south of the country claim that the bloodstains on bullet trains are evidence of wild birds' inability to avoid the vehicles
By Shelley Shan
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jan 08, 2007, Page 2
Only days after beginning official operations, the high speed rail system has attracted the ire of yet another group of critics: bird lovers.
Birdwatchers in southern Taiwan said last week that bullet trains are killing "many" wild birds along the high speed rail routes. Although they could not provide numbers to support their claims, they pointed to bloodstains "commonly seen" on the bullet trains as evidence of an avian massacre.
Lin Shih-hsien (林世賢), a veterinarian at an emergency aid station for birds in Changhua County, said in a program on the Broadcasting Corporation of China that the high-speed railway located near Baguashan Tunnel (八卦山隧道) is surrounded by a vast natural habitat for wild birds.
As the high speed trains operate at 300kph, he said, they will inevitably hit relatively slow-flying wild birds.
Lin urged that the Council of Agriculture investigate whether birds' lives are in indeed endangered by the high-speed rail. He added that if this were the case, the council should file a lawsuit against Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) for violating the Wildlife Conservation Law (野生動物保育法).
Tsai Meng-lin (蔡孟霖), executive director of the Wild Birds Society in Changhua, said he was aware of the bloodstains, as well as traces of rail kill. But he said that further observations were needed to determine whether the high-speed rail threatens the existence of birds in the Baguashan area.
Tsai said the society would be "more than happy" to investigate the matter, should THSRC request its assistance.
The company said last year that railway accidents would not jeopardize the safety of the high speed rail. It also said that it believes wild birds would learn to avoid flying near the fast-moving trains.
Meanwhile, the company has allocated funds to help protect the habitats of the rare Pheasant-tailed Jacana Hydrophasianus chirurgus in Kuantien (官田), Tainan County, as compensation for allowing the high speed rail to pass through the area.
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