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Birds... and planes

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Worried about whether birds could down your airplane?

Nearly two months after a US Airways jetliner ditched in New York’s Hudson River after an encounter with Canadian geese, California Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) has introduced a bill giving airports a green light to kill birds that pose a hazard.

Animal rights groups are taking aim at his proposal. Audubon California wants it to exempt endangered species and explicitly make the use of lethal force a last resort. And some activists don’t want killing allowed at all.

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‘More people die per year from being struck by lightning than by birds interfering with planes,’ said Pamelyn Ferdin, co-president of the Animal Defense League. ‘Why don’t we outlaw airplanes that kill geese? Weren’t the geese here first?’ Read more from our Times reporters in Sacramento.

--Margot Roosevelt

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