A French court has ordered an unexpected measure to determine whether a local 4G cell phone tower is harming the health of nearby cows.
The owners of the livestock have indicated that the animals are feeding less, suffering from disease, and producing less milk since the installation of the towers.
Frédéric Salgues, a farmer in Haute-Loire, has identified what he believes is the cause of his cows’ problems: a cell phone towers commissioned by Orange on June 28, 2021.
“I can see from my tractor that they are all skin and bones. It’s enough to make you cry.” Salgues said.
As a result of Salgues’ fears for the health and safety of his animals, the administrative court in Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) took action to order the switch-off of the tower.
The court said that “it is appropriate to order the temporary cessation of the operation of this antenna for a period of two months, taking into account its general impact, with monitoring, by the judicial expert, of the behaviour of the herd, and of the dairy cows in particular, during this period”.
Orange has been given three months by the court to comply with the order, which will include them shutting down the antenna while still guaranteeing phone connectivity for their customers in the impacted area.
Mr. Salgues has been incredibly distressed over the health and wellbeing of his herd. “They are all thin,” he said. “They don’t get up at night to eat, and they hardly drink at all. And this one, which stays completely still with her jaw stuck on the side and her head down, you can see this is not normal behavior!” Then he added, “These cows, they are sad.”
The goal is to conduct an expert assessment to “establish a potential causal link between the behavior of the cattle and this antenna,” as per the administrative court. “A significant drop in the quality and quantity of milk produced, a serious disruption in the herd’s behavior and voluntary denutrition, and abnormally high deaths” are among the issues highlighted.
Following the ruling, Mr. Salgues told the AFP that he hoped his cows would be able to “recover as soon as possible” and called the case ruling “a major relief and a victory”.
Sources: Westernjournal, Thefederalistpapers, Leparisien
