Birds and airplanes compete for airspace and runway dominance. Usually, the aircraft win, but not always.
Between 1990 and 2007, more than 82,000 aircraft-animal collisions were reported to the FAA, with birds involved 97 percent of the time. They caused $291 million in damage to planes.
Border collies are coming to the rescue for wildlife control at 20 airports in the United States, according to Flyaway Farm and Kennels, which supplies dogs to military and commercial airfields. The dogs look like a wolf or coyote to birds. When they run onto runways, they scare birds away.
Southwest Florida International Airport, near Ft. Myers, was the first to use a bird dog in 1999. It scares off the cattle egrets, blue heron, great egreet and grackels as well as flocks of migratory birds that stop by in fall.
New York’s JFK International uses dogs to chase off the gulls, geese and starlings. They also use falcons!
Charleston International in South Carolina uses dogs. Canada’s Vancouver International has two border collies, according to USA Today. At Minneapolis-St. Paul International, the dogs clear red-tailed hawks, Canada Geese and starlings from runways.
Some airports use fireworks or recordings of explosions. Tampa International plays recordings of seagulls screaming in distress.
At Bird Strike Committee USA, an association of aviation and wildlife experts, they say no single tool can fully solve the wildlife problem, but dogs do help.
Mark 315-729-7546
