The Public Prosecutor’s Office proposes in Albacete that the electrocution of birds on power lines should be a crime.
Antonio Vercher, head of Environment and Urban Planning at the State Attorney General’s Office, argues that it is not only an infraction. Every year some 40,000 large birds die in the cable network throughout the country.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has proposed in Albacete that the electrocution of protected birds should be a crime and not just an infraction, as it has been until now. Every year about 40,000 birds die in power lines throughout the country. Albacete is hosting this Monday and Tuesday the XIV Meeting of the Network of Specialized Prosecutors of Environment and Urbanism, which is being attended by more than 50 prosecutors from all over Spain, as well as a representation of the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard, SEPRONA. The Prosecutor who coordinates the Environmental and Urban Planning matters of the State Attorney General’s Office recognizes that this massive electrocution of birds has become a problem. Antonio Vercher, in declarations to Radio Albacete, proposes to modify the penal code to make this situation a crime. That, in addition to the death of these birds, also poses a risk of fire in the area. In Albacete, the Junta de Comunidades assures that our province is the one that has carried out the greatest adaptation of power lines in the whole country and that more than 70% are already safe, something that is already noticeable in the bird population, according to Llanos Valero, provincial delegate of Sustainable Development. The Albacetense Ornithological Society warns that much remains to be done. The president of the SAO, Julia Giménez, explains that the electricity companies are opting to appeal the sanctions imposed by the administrations, rather than make changes to the power lines, which poses a risk to these birds. We have spoken with the three of them in the program Hoy por Hoy of Radio Albacete.
Source:
https://cadenaser.com/castillalamancha/2024/01/30/la-fiscalia-propone-en-albacete-que-la-electrocucion-de-aves-sea-delito-radio-albacete/