Chris, take a look at the link I provided and see what you can imagine about the reasons particular species are being killed and how many individual animals are being killed every year. Habitat loss is a far greater threat to wildlife, of course, but actions such as those of Wildlife Services to favor any and all aspects of human existence (agriculture and fishing seem to be major ones) over wildlife to me should be completely defensible to be undertaken. We have stopped many activities such as predator poisoning, acknowledging that livestock aren?t always to be ranked above wildlife.

I was surprised to hear from Wally that a bird the size of a sparrow could ruin an engine, and that?s sobering. I didn?t know that. We are killing thousands of birds of open country of all sizes that happen to live around airports to prevent that, and although I understand the reasons, I would hope very strongly that all non-lethal modes of prevention would have been tried first and repeatedly. Sometimes airports are among the few patches of open land left in and around cities, and some of the birds that are being killed aren?t among our most common species, as in my example of Upland Sandpiper.

I should add that the vast majority of Wildlife Services kills are not about airports, and the program has been criticized by many others. I am just trying to keep that critique in the public eye as a much larger concern than what was reported in Renton.

Dennis


On Nov 28, 2016, at 3:10 PM, J Christian Kessler <1northraven at gmail.com> wrote:

> The original post expressed concern about the (unnecessary, it would appear) shooting of a Snow Goose & a gull when non-lethal methods were used & are certainly more efficient. I agreed entirely with his concern and taking action. If I understand the post above about locating airports along "migratory flyways" this would preclude most coastal cities, and Central Flyway cities like Chicago, from having airports at all. I'm not following something. And the "war on wildlife" is much more about land-use & environmental destruction than it is about airport safety. So I'm puzzled a the direction this thread is taking.
>
> Chris Kessler
> Seattle
>
> On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 2:47 PM, Devorah the Ornithologist <birdologist at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> i can't help but notice that an indecent number of airports happen to be located on migratory flyways or on refueling siets for migratory birds.
>
>
>
> grrlscientist
> about.me/grrlscientist
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 10:37 PM, Wally Davis <wallydavis3 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm both a biologist that loves birding and a retired Navy pilot. I can
> tell you that something as small as a sparrow can cause failure of a jet
> engine if it is sucked into the intake. If the engine explodes, it can
> bring down the airplane. These incidents typically take place during
> landing or take off and in the vicinity of populated areas. Personally I
> had to abort a flight and make an emergency landing because I hit a turkey
> vulture on the wing between my number 3 and 4 engines on take-off. That hit
> wiped out the leading edge of the wing. Fortunately it didn't go into an
> engine. I was also a passenger in a 737 that ingested a seagull on
> take-off. The pilot shut the engine down and had to make an emergency
> landing with one engine and a lot of people on board. An enormous effort
> has gone into trying alternate ways to keep birds away from airports. I
> don't think a really good way has been found. If birds aren't controlled
> around airports we either have to give up flying or we have to accept that
> there will be multiple accidents every year caused by birds ingested into
> jet engines. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world.
>
> Wally Davis
> Snohomish
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
> Paulson
> Sent: Monday, November 28, 2016 1:08 PM
> To: TWEETERS tweeters
> Subject: re: [Tweeters] Renton airport anti-bird measures question
>
> Wildlife Services is a source of one of the substantial environmental
> "crimes" in the United States. They kill so many vertebrate animals, just
> because one or another segment of our society doesn't like them, that it is
> shocking to see lists of the totals every year. If you feel up to it, here
> is the list for 2014:
> https://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/prog_data/2014/G/Tables/Table%20G
> _ShortReport.pdf
>
> You can go back year after year and add them up to get an idea of activities
> like that described at the Renton airport that are surely taking an
> unjustifiable toll of some of our wildlife. You can see the totals at the
> end.
>
> Speaking of airports, they killed 548 Upland Sandpipers in 12 states in that
> year, presumably as aviation threats. Does anyone believe that an Upland
> Sandpiper can threaten any kind of airplane? And this is a declining species
> that is considered of special conservation concern in numerous states. Or
> how about a total of 2,115 individuals of 5 species of swallows? Oh yes,
> they do poop a lot. 215,238 golden-plovers were "dispersed" (only 17 were
> killed) in that year. What in heck does that mean? That they chased away
> almost 600/day every day for 365 days from the same few airports?
>
> You can do your own thinking of why each of these species of birds, mammals,
> reptiles, amphibians and fishes is killed.
>
> As far as I know, there has been no successful attempt by conservation
> organizations to limit the damages to animal populations caused by Wildlife
> Services. That they are part of the Department of Agriculture rather than
> the Department of the Interior tells the story.
>
> Dennis Paulson
> Seattle, WA_______________________________________________
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> Devorah Bennu, PhD
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-----
Dennis Paulson
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