Bends blamed for strange bat deaths

Richard Collins on deadly encounters at windfarms

BIRDS fall foul of wind turbines but they’re not the only victims; windfarms also threaten bats in parts of Europe, North America and Australia. At some accident black spots, more bats are killed than birds. Turbine blades hit hapless birds and it was assumed that bats are killed in the same way. Now, research by a Canadian PhD student suggests this is not the case.

Erin Baerwald of the University of Calgary, interviewed on RTÉ’s Mooney Show, claims that bats who have close encounters with turbines are not collision victims but develop a condition similar to what divers call “the bends”.