Time ago when the first flamingo's flew against the power-lines, WEB did not know about it, this is called "involuntary manslaughter", today WEB (our electrical company) knows they fly against the lines and get killed now it's called "MURDER"
120 flamingos died in the last 2 months, how many more

Go to:
http://www.youtube.com/user/forumantilles?feature=mhum#p/u/0/rqLxtYgLcEU

Film is called: Flamingo's death no time wait

I am thankful to you & Sean for bringing this to our attention. You both, along with your team are a credit to Bonaire. Sadly, it appears that you are seen more as an inconvenience to the Government than an asset.

I posted the Email address of WEB on Face book & a few other sites in the hope that people would contact them in some numbers. A few have to my knowledge but not as many as I would have hoped.

Sadly, I fear that more people are concerned about what restaurants to eat in & property values than they are about the decimation of the local Environment.

I amongst others fell for the April Fools 'joke' regarding the proposal for an Ice Cream Parlour on Klein. While people laughed at the prank, many of those same people would be first in the queue to purchase a slice of Klein if ever that became possible.

Bonaire is going to hell in a hand-cart unless the powers that be impose restrictions & enforce rules on businesses to do what is morally right, not just legally right.

Antony, Can you list the e-mail for WEB here also? And what about contacting the Minister of the Environment? or the Governor? or any others in the government who should be ashamed at this murder of the flamingos when the problem could be easily and quickly solved. I think we should write all of them to know that they all have responsibility for this ongoing tragedy.

Pauline.

Address: Kaya Carlos A. Nicolaas 3
Phone: (599) 717-8244
Fax: (599) 717-8756
Email: web@web.an

Pauline.

The Government & WEB are well aware of the problem. WEB Director Ibi di Palm stated in the latest copy of the Bonaire Reporter; He
regretted the incidents and management is taking the matter very seriously. He explained that flight diverters have been installed on some cables already, but not everywhere because
they are very expensive'.

Of course, WEB has no completion on the island, maybe if they did, they would have already done what is necessary. As it is, what are Bonaire residents going to do? Stop using Electricity or go Solar? Of course not.

Rather like the BOPEC fiasco, it is likely to be swept under the carpet.

I rarely post here on BT anymore, but as with the BOPEC fire (and alledged oil spill before the fire) I would have to say that Antony's point of sweeping it under the carpet would sadly appear to be true. And Antony's point about what BT-ers find important to comment on (which is rarely anything environmental, unless it involves the time-honored manly hunt of lionfish) is also sadly true. For me to be only the third person posting here after the OP is interesting to say the least. You would think that Bonaire lovers would be blown away by a story like this. And STILL no information regarding the Bopec fire and spill. Sad indeed.

Scott...EXACTLY..I'm still waiting to read when the waste water disposal facilities will be functional. The last I read it was supposed to be completed last March.

Scott, you are so right! The supposed ethos that if you love Bonaire, you do not criticize it--is a recipe for one disaster after another unfolding--from the deterioration of the reefs to the destruction of the mangroves to the plundering of rocks and sand around Boca Onima to the killing of the endangered birds at the Harbour Village salina and now to the death of the flamingos.

Why doesn't the island government pay attention? Why aren't Bonaireans protesting the destruction of their island? And where is the Dutch progressive environmental voice?

All is silence! All BTers should be weeping!

Saving the environment costs money, exploiting it makes money.
Many people in power as well as representatives of the tourism department have but one agenda & that is to make money.
The Dutch Government have carried Bonaire & other such islands for years as reparation for enslaving their people. In these times of austerity, it is not likely that the Netherlands will want to stop the escalation in tourism.

So who will stop this decline? Politicians? No, they are in power for the short term & need to capitalise on that. The locals? In the main no. The younger generations see American TV cabled into their homes & see what their peers have. MTV showing young Black men driving flash cars & dripping with gold feeds their ambition for money. There are few legal opportunities for them on the island so its a choice between flipping burgers on minimum wage or choose a life of crime.

How about foreign business owners? Of course not. The majority (not all) saw a blank canvas & an unspoilt island and saw a profit to be made. They want people to buy their real estate & buy from their stores or restaurants, when people don't do that they will pull up the ladder and be on their way to the next island.

So who is left? A handful of locals with no power & a few passionate environmentalists. People like Sean Paton, Hendrick & Captain Don do what they can to highlight the abuse of the island. The Government regard them as a nuisance, not an asset & local developers see them as an inconvenience. While these brave & passionate people lobby, campaign & strive for reform, builders keep building, cruise ships keep arriving & pollutants continue to be pumped into the sea.

Everyone is to blame. Anyone who has dumped batteries in a hotel room waste bin, anyone who hasn't Emailed WEB to voice their disgust, anyone who has touched a piece of coral & anyone who has chosen to visit the island on the worlds biggest pollutant, a cruise ship.

Unless people lobby the Government & threaten to stop visiting Bonaire, this will continue. The tourist has the most power. Without them, businesses will close down, real estate agents can't sell their houses & cruise ships will be empty.

Of course it won't happen. When Bonaire is ruined, those vacationers will go somewhere else, wealthy business owners will take their stash & flee, politicians will use their kick-backs to buy property in Florida & the islanders will be left with the husk of what remains.

Antony, Absolutely spot on!