Akçapınar no more ’stork town’
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 21, 2009 00:00
MARMARIS - Akçapınar Village was once home to nearly 400 storks during the 1980s. But this year there are only 14 storks in the Aegean town, mainly because of deadly electricity wires surrounding their living area.
The old fishing village was famous for many years for its giant eucalyptus trees and hundreds of storks. The storks were also popular subjects for research at that time. But with the area’s rising human population, the stork population has decreased.
The human density has meant more civilization and more electricity wires, which became fatal problems for all the birds in the village.
Number falling
Despite Bio-Gökova, a UN-supported project that started eight years ago, the falling number of the storks has not stopped. The village headman, Şükrü Aslan, explained their efforts to keep the storks in the village: "We have set up wooden columns for storks to have nests, and we have stopped hunting around the village. But, the transmission towers around the village are always a danger to storks’ lives, especially to the baby storks."
The people of Akçapınar Village, once nicknamed "stork village," are now hoping the Muğla Governership and Ministry of Environment will use their authorities to get the electricity wires to be moved underground by the electricity company. And, this seems to be the only way to save the beautiful storks of the village.
The human density has meant more civilization and more electricity wires, which became fatal problems for all the birds in the village.
Number falling
Despite Bio-Gökova, a UN-supported project that started eight years ago, the falling number of the storks has not stopped. The village headman, Şükrü Aslan, explained their efforts to keep the storks in the village: "We have set up wooden columns for storks to have nests, and we have stopped hunting around the village. But, the transmission towers around the village are always a danger to storks’ lives, especially to the baby storks."
The people of Akçapınar Village, once nicknamed "stork village," are now hoping the Muğla Governership and Ministry of Environment will use their authorities to get the electricity wires to be moved underground by the electricity company. And, this seems to be the only way to save the beautiful storks of the village.