Summary of Situation Report Bulletin on Animals Exposed to Power Lines published online

This situation report on power lines and animals was initiated in a Board discussion in which a regular situation report bulletin was reviewed prior to its publication. The question of potential effects of power lines on animals keeps coming up from time to time, and we found that, at least in Finnish, not much has been published on this topic. This gave us the idea to compile a special situation report dedicated to studies on animals.

The studies summarized in this bulletin focus exclusively on animals exposed to power lines, with all other animal-related studies left out of consideration. Emphasis was put on recent studies, and a variety of database searches were carried out to achieve extensive coverage. More time was spent on this than usual, as the search spanned a time period of a considerable number of years.

The first paper in this bulletin discusses bee hives in the vicinity of power lines. It reviews a number of previous studies and draws conclusions based on the findings. The Finnish guidelines recommend that bee hives should be located at the edge of a right-of-way. Also, hives reinforced with metal should, where necessary, be provided with electric-field shielding in the form of wire mesh connected to the ground. The article on bees is followed by several on dairy cows, investigating, for example, milk production in pregnant and non-pregnant cows, and hormone levels.

I hope you enjoy reading this summary in English!

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