Utility looks to save trumpeter swans at sanctuary

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A utility is trumpeting efforts to keep more swans from dying in run-ins with power lines north of St. Louis.

Ameren Missouri is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in installing so-called swan diverters on miles of high-voltage lines crossing the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary near West Alton.

The diverters look like foot-long yellow corkscrews meant to better allow the trumpeter swans to see and avoid the lines.

The Army Corps' Mary Markos says about 500 swans from Upper Midwest breeding grounds winter at the sanctuary, and the utility and federal agencies took action after evidence that many swans were injured or killed by flying into the high-voltage wires.

Installation of the diverters is to continue through Wednesday.


Information from: The (Alton) Telegraph, www.thetelegraph.com