Hi Tweets,

Diann MacRae writes:

>Would it do any good for letters to be written somewhere protesting this
>wildlife shooting at and around the airport?

I think there needs to be some fact-finding first, Diann.

>I can't think of anywhere,
>although there well may be some spots, where men with shotguns wander
>around shooting *protected* wildlife species.

After getting out of an official Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
pick-up with a shotgun on a public road beside the airport? Neither do I. I
don't *know* that they're shooting on public land, or shooting raptors, but
I do know they kill birds--I've seen it. I don't know how wide their remit
is, and what they are legally permitted to shoot, or where they can legally
shoot it/them, or under what circumstances. I would think this of the
greatest interest to local organisations. I think this needs some serious
and hard-eyed investigation. They may have some justification. Or not. I
don't know.

I would iterate my suggestion that the local nature organisation--the
Vancouver Natural History Society, which has worked with the federal
Department of Transport on an Iona Island marsh project and whose mandate
implies protection of wildlife in the Greater Vancouver conurbation, along
with representatives of the Canadian Wildlife Service from its enforcement
section--sit down with YVR management---YVR was turned into a private
authority a few years ago--and ask *hardball* questions of the Airport
management vis-a-vis its bird-control practices. For example, do the
bird-control staff know their bird ID's? Can they prove it? Do they log what
they kill and where? Under what circumstances? What alternative methods did
they attempt first, if any? Etc, etc.

I'd suggest the VNHS hire or apply for a grant to hire a cold-eyed,
non-gullible observer to ride along or otherwise scrutinise the activities
of the YVR bird-control staff and report back at regular intervals over a
several-month period.

>Usually, a variety of other
>tactics are used, with varying results.

If I've given the incorrect impression that killing is the only method that
YVR uses, I'm sorry. They also use noisemakers--bearbangers and rockets. One
of the major problems, though, is that YVR mows the grass near the runways,
attracting large numbers of Canada Geese Branta canadensis and European
Starling Sturna vulgaris as well as assorted ducks, and then spends tens of
thousands of dollars to employ several people whose sole job is to drive
around the YVR perimeter--several kilometers of which parallel the public
roads, separated only by a fence--discharging said noisemakers, rockets and
guns all day long (to the point where on an average dawn-to-dusk day it
sounds like a replay of the Lebanese Civil War within YVR grounds) to move
these birds along. The gulls--most totally enured to the jets passing
overhead--roost on some concrete light-brackets and other structures which
project out into Georgia Strait. The Snow Geese Anser caerulescens feed and
roost offshore at the W end of the main E--W runway. The construction of YVR
right across their normal migration route and feeding areas must have come
as quite a shock to them; that they pay with their lives for following their
programming must be a bigger one.

>With all of the falconers in B.C.
>I would think the powers that be at the airport would give that a try.

They did, up to a few years ago. I don't know why they stopped.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)