A large number of goats in Taiwan may have died of exhaustion because of noise from a wind farm. A farmer on an outlying island told the BBC he had lost more than 400 animals after eight giant wind turbines were installed close to his grazing land. The Ministry of Agriculture says it suspects that noise may have caused the goats’ demise through lack of sleep. The power company has offered to pay for part of the costs of building a new farmhouse at a quieter location. Before the wind farm was built about four years ago, farmer Kuo Jing-shan had about 700 goats. Shortly after the electricity-generating turbines were installed by Taipower, the 57-year-old says his animals started to die. He now has just 250 goats left.
“The goats looked skinny and they weren’t eating. One night I went out to the farmhouse and the goats were all standing up; they weren’t sleeping. I didn’t know why. If I had known, I would’ve done something to stop the dying,” he told the BBC’s Cindy Sui in Taiwan.
A local livestock inspector from the agriculture ministry said that Mr Kuo was the only farmer to have reported such large-scale deaths. He said his claim was plausible because of all the farmers in the Penghu archipelago, his farm was closest to the wind turbines.
“Abnormal noises could affect the normal growth and feeding intake of animals and cause them to suffer sleep deprivation,” Lu Ming-tseng said.
Mr Kuo said the power company had offered to help him move but that there would be no compensation for the loss of his goats. “It’s a pain to relocate, but what can I do. I can’t survive with the wind turbines,” he said.
I read that story and felt pretty sorry for the goats. I hate those windmills. Give me a nice steaming uranium smoke stack any day, bury the byproducts in the middle of the Sahara and be done with it.
For many years I have toyed with… no, not that… the idea of writing a novel, but I just haven’t been able to come up with the right setting and plot. Until now, that is.
A goat murder mystery on an exotic eastern isle with the topical climate change/alternative energy angle thrown in.
Of course, I would change a few things. A goat is a poor man’s sheep so I would change the goats to sheep.
[quote=“almas john”]For many years I have toyed with… no, not that… the idea of writing a novel, but I just haven’t been able to come up with the right setting and plot. Until now, that is.
A goat murder mystery on an exotic eastern isle with the topical climate change/alternative energy angle thrown in.
Of course, I would change a few things. A goat is a poor man’s sheep so I would change the goats to sheep.[/quote]
A little necrophilia would be sure to make it a best seller. Or at least a great weekend for some.
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“almas john”]For many years I have toyed with… no, not that… the idea of writing a novel, but I just haven’t been able to come up with the right setting and plot. Until now, that is.
A goat murder mystery on an exotic eastern isle with the topical climate change/alternative energy angle thrown in.[/quote]
A little necrophilia would be sure to make it a best seller. Or at least a great weekend for some.[/quote]
They’re killed off one by one right? And the island is some private estate, with an exclusive gathering of the cognoscenti there for a week’s leisure, as per Hercule Poirot . . .
Well, if there was only one female goat in the lot with a personality like my old girlfriend from Penghu…then I am certain the other goats killed themselves. Find the source and you will save the remaining alive, but wishing for salvation goats.
