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church bell recovered

Church bell stolen from Antigonish County found destroyed

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Violation and betrayal are being felt by the Cape George community after their church bell was found smashed into pieces.

Community member Kate MacEachern made it her mission to find St. David’s United Church’s bell after retrieving Holy Rosary Church’s bell that was taken from Ballantyne’s Cove a year ago.

She shares with our newsroom both bells were stolen by the same thieves from the churches that are 1.7 km away from each other.

“It’s one thing to be so morally bankrupt to rob a church, a churchyard, sacred ground. But it’s something entirely different to take that [bell] into a barn with witnesses and smash it to smithereens,” she expressed.

“I have no idea how low a person can possibly ever be in their life to think that that is acceptable or funny or that they’re ever going to get away with it.”

MacEachern says she heard it was purposely broken down very fast to try to ensure that it was never recovered after her pursuit the other bell last year.

According to her, the thieves made a very good attempt to scrap it in different loads, but she had already contacted all the scrapyards in the area and received a big load of pieces from one metal scrapper, while some other pieces were handed to her directly.

She says it was awful to see the historical bell that was a gift to the church from St. Ninian’s School smashed into so many pieces.

“We did recover about 95% of it. We’ve started reconstruction basically just to see how much is actually still missing and presumably will probably never be seen again,” shared MacEachern.

She says the bell gave a sense of community and safety which is everything the area residents stand for.

The man who managed to fix the bell from Holy Rosary Church is doing some research to figure out the best plan moving forward and the trustees for St. David’s United Church are having a meeting this week to discuss which option or direction they’re going to go in, stated MacEachern.

She says a few people did get paid for sharing information, but the actual reward she posted was not given out.

brown moose on brown grass during daytime

Moose association needs urgent support to save habitat in Antigonish County

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The Moose Conservation Association of Nova Scotia (MCANS) is urgently trying to stop a proposed wind farm in Antigonish County that could be days away from getting the green light from the province. 

Environment Minister Tim Halman is reviewing an Environmental Assessment (EA), which if approved, would give the go ahead to the Eigg Mountain Wind Farm as early as Thursday.

The MCANS president Al Muir says it is detrimental to moose population and that they’ve launched their Harvey’s Last Hope Campaign to give a face of one of the moose that will be affected in the area.

“We’re trying to do is draw attention to Harvey’s plight up there and have people call the minister of the environment to be a voice for Harvey,” Muir explains.

The campaign was developed after the public comment submissions section on the EA was closed last week.

“We don’t know why this site was even considered because it’s probably one of the most sensitive areas in the province. The fingers of the protected area go right up through the middle of this project.”

The Eigg Mountain project would have 22 wind turbines to produce up to 154 megawatts of power near Connors Mountain Road and would not be the only one in the area.

Muir says there are five more, including:

  • Eigg Mountain which is being reviewed
  • Glen Dhu which is already up and running
  • Beaver Mountain which is in the tower erection stage
  • Sugar Maple which has entered the environmental assessment comments stage
  • Yellow Birch which is another proposed location

According to Muir, the cumulative effect of a large number of towers are having an even more profound effect on the moose in general.

Muir says Eigg Mountain is the largest pocket of remaining moose in the in the Pictou Antigonish Highlands and this proposed wind farm would be in wetland and old forest growth areas which would be disastrous for the moose.

“We understand the public’s appetite for green energy, but we cannot ignore the effect this project we’ll have on resident moose like Harvey in this incredibly sensitive area, so we just want the public to convey that message to the minister,” said Muir.

He’s encouraging you to write or call Minister Tim Halman with your concerns about the Eigg Mountain site before the decision is made on Thursday, April 9.

We reached out to the company behind the project for details on why they chose this location. 

Moose in Velvet feeding in the wilderness

Wind farm would interfere with moose habitat and population

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Moose conservationists believe the proposed Eigg Mountain Wind Farm in Antigonish County is the worst possible place.

According to the website for the project it would be near Connors Mountain Road and is expected to have 22 turbines to generate up to 8 MW of power each, along with two to three towers. The company behind the project, Renewable Energy Systems (RES) has submitted for an environmental assessment (EA).

However, the president of the Moose Conservation Association of Nova Scotia objects to the EA. He told our newsroom wind turbines create flickering as well as light and noise issues that could drive moose to leave their ideal habitation, putting survival at risk.

“We’ve identified the area around Eigg Mountain as being the highest concentration of moose in this particular part of the province in those highland areas. So, it’s because you have the wetlands, because they’re so important to the moose. It’s vital that we protect this area,” he expressed.

Muir said wetlands and old growth forest areas need to be protected as they are primarily food sources for moose.

“From the Moose Conservation Association’s perspective, this particular area is so ultra sensitive to a project like this. Standing alone, it’s probably the worst place in the province to put one of these things,” he concluded.

He explained the government has a legislative requirement of a recovery plan for the mainland moose to sustain population, and if this development is allowed to go forward it will end the project.

RES is actively looking for public input on the design with a goal to have construction to start in 2027 and be operational in 2028.

“A lot of people welcome wind energy developments and we’re not anti-development. It’s just that a lot of these are being placed in areas at high elevations where there’s the only places where moose are left in the province, and this of all those areas,” he clarified.

Muir said the province should strongly consider adding Eigg Mountain to the wilderness area that already exists there.