Craig Webb releases the wedge-tailed eagle
Raptor Refuge ( here ) founder Craig Webb has released a wedge-tailed eagle, fully rehabilitated after sustaining soft tissue damage caused by collision with overhead power lines.
On releasing the eagle, Mr Webb called for greater action from TasNetworks to install mitigation devices to avoid eagle electrocution and collision with wires.
TasNetworks Annual Report details that 11 wedge-tailed eagles have died in 2016, following interaction with its overhead power infrastructure. Mr Webb and other experts believe the total number of eagle deaths caused by power infrastructure is in fact much higher.
Mitigation devices include perches and caps on power poles and ‘flappers’ clipped onto suspended power lines. TasNetworks is one of Tasmania’s most profitable Government businesses, last year transferring $120 million of equity to other Government entities, including a $30 million subsidy to Forestry Tasmania.
TasNetworks must detail a comprehensive, funded plan to install eagle protection devices across problem areas in its network early in the new year.
Vica Bayley Tasmanian Campaign Manager The Wilderness Society (Tasmania) Inc.
