Friend or Fowl, Dog Keeps Runways Clear

The newest employee at Southwest Florida International Airport works like a dog and his job is literally for the birds.

Jet is a 2-year-old border collie trained to chase birds away from airplane flight paths. The black and white male collie went to work in February and is believed to be the first dog in the nation used for runway bird herding, airport spokeswoman Susan Sanders said Wednesday.

“It looks like it’s working well. We haven’t had one reported strike,” Sanders said.

Bird strikes are a common problem at airports in Florida, which ranks third behind California and Texas in the number of strikes, airport officials said. Nationally, birds collide with 2,500 planes a year and have caused $48 million in aircraft damage since 1991. Since most bird strikes occur on approach, landing, take-off or the initial climb, prevention efforts focus on the airports.

Jet was trained by Border Collie Rescue, a Florida nonprofit group that takes in unwanted border collies and trains them for new uses. Trainer Nick Carter had put other border collies to work herding messy Canada geese off of golf courses. He figured the breed’s inherent tendency to herd, but not harm or kill, would make them a natural for airport duty.

Border collies are highly intelligent and can herd birds in specific directions rather than just scattering them. Because Jet doesn’t bark and runs at speeds of up to 30 mph, he is perceived as a stealth predator by the birds. Airport officials believe that will keep the birds from becoming desensitized to him as they have to other deterrents, such as noise and pyrotechnics.

Jet lives in the airport kennel with other working dogs who sniff for explosives and illegal drugs. His work record has been spotless, with one minor glitch.

The airport is in a wetland area where the dog encountered alligators for the first time, and had to be sent back to his trainer for a week of alligator sensitivity instruction.

“He didn’t know what an alligator was and wasn’t necessarily afraid of them,” Sanders said. “He was trying to herd them.”