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NFL stadium is killing birds at a high rate

US Bank Stadium, home to the Minnesota Vikings was only opened last summer. The Minneapolis venue...



NFL stadium is killing birds a...
Golf

NFL stadium is killing birds at a high rate

US Bank Stadium, home to the Minnesota Vikings was only opened last summer.

The Minneapolis venue is one of the best in the NFL. It hosts Super Bowl LII next year, less that two years after opening.

As more and more stadia open in America, each venue tries to stand out from the rest. For US Bank Stadium, their unique selling point, is a glass-plated venue.

Despite all of the state-of-the-art features in the stadium. One thing they failed to consider was birds. The glass wall is causing birds to accidentally fly into the venue killing themselves.

Three conservation groups have completed a study of the venue and estimate that as many as 500 birds could be killed each year by crashing into the glass walls.

"We knew that the glass would be highly confusing to the birds," Jim Sharpsteen told the Minneapolis-based CityPages. "They see a reflection of a blue sky in the glass, they think it's a blue sky. They see reflections of trees, they think they can land in those reflections of trees. This confirmed what we already believed would be bad." 

"We want them to either replace the glass with a less reflective glass or put a coating on the glass that would make it more bird friendly," Sharpsteen added. "I think the more realistic would be to apply coating to the outside of the glass."

The Vikings have promised to conduct a study into any bird deaths over a longer period of time, in a view to try and find a solution to the unusual problem.

 

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