Open Letter to the Massachusetts Audubon Society

Office Manager/Program Registrar Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Dear Ms Ryder, I have little doubt you will find the following to be of great interest.

---

Pictures showing that raptors are attracted to wind turbines, thus putting their lives at risk: Study showing that bats are attracted to wind turbines from as far as 14 km away (see below). A new, short paper mentioning all this and suggesting that swifts and swallows could also be attracted to windfarms. This projects a new light on wind turbines, which have turned to become ecological traps instead of planet savers. You may thus forget about "siting wind turbines carefully": it's useless, as many bird and bat species are attracted to them from miles away, often to their death. Even small turbines seem to attract them. This is a whole new ball game, and by placing a wind turbine in your bird sanctuary, however "small" the machine, you will be committing a crime against birds, bats, and biodiversity. Your wind turbine would please the wind industry, which I predict would use it as "proof" that wind turbines pose no danger to bird populations - since the "prestigious" Audubon Society approves of a wind turbine in a wildlife sanctuary. As you have been warned of the dangers to wildlife, your going ahead with this project would evidence a collusion on your part with the wind industry, which could only further damage your reputation. Yours, dismayed Mark Duchamp Chairman, World Council for Nature www.wcfn.org

---