They are needed on the ground…. “A group of animals has been drafted in to combat a hazard in the skies above the runway of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, The Netherlands aviation hub. A six-week pilot project is studying whether a small herd of pigs can deter flocks of geese and other birds attracted to discarded sugar beets on nearby farmland.
The 19 pigs have been enjoying life on a 5-acre plot between two runways, turning a field of crop residue into a muddy haven and eating the food that attracts the birds, which can collide with planes and in the worst cases even get sucked into engines.
Two years ago, a KLM Boeing 747 was hit by one such suspected “bird strike”, and had to return to the airport. This was also the cause of the famous US Airways near-disaster in 2009, when both engines lost all power and the captain, Chesley Sullenberger, had to land his stricken Airbus A320 on the Hudson River.
In the year from November 2018, there were 565 strikes near Schiphol, peaking in the summer. The number fell to 259 in 2020-21 as air traffic waned during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, long aware of the safety risk, the airport – which is surrounded by natural areas that attract wildlife – has 20 bird controllers tracking avian activity and using technology such as noise and laser beams to deter them.
Stan Gloudemans, co-owner of a small-scale outdoor piggery, Buitengewone Varkens (“extraordinary pigs”), was keen to help when the Royal Schiphol Group, which manages the airport, came to him to see if his animals could do even more.
“Geese like beet, and when it’s left on the fields, they flock to eat it,” he told the Guardian on a visit to the trampled field just west of Amsterdam. “Over there are 30 geese enjoying the beet, but those geese are a danger to aircraft. Here, the pigs have eaten up the beet so the geese stay away.
“This is a trial with two hectares, although the Haarlemmermeer [the district surrounding the airport] is 2,000. I’d dare to say that it’s already a success; next year, on to bigger fields!” Although the noise of planes taxiing and taking off is loud and frequent, there is no evidence that the pigs are bothered, with their tails high and wagging. Herman Vermeer, a researcher in pig welfare at Wageningen University & Research, said although he had not investigated the effects of noise on outdoor pigs, they were likely to become well adjusted.*
*Senay Boztas/24 November 2021. The Guardian
Perhaps the next experiment will involve Chickens-crossing-the-road