"Furry friends flock to floating Japanese airport"

Friday, November 1, 2002

Furry friends flock to floating airport
Japan - Mainichi Shimbun


OMURA, Nagasaki -- The world's oldest floating airport is being plagued
by an invasion of furry creatures, according to transport officials.

Raccoon-like creatures called tanuki are flocking to Nagasaki Airport,
the world's first "floating" airport.

Officials are at their wits end as to how to get rid of the creatures,
which pose a danger to aircraft using the facility, but are asking
people not to feed the tanuki in the hope of keeping the creatures away.

"How the operators of a floating airport ever managed to get into a
situation where they were worried by tanuki, I don't know," one bemused
airport official said.

Nagasaki Airport is built on Mishima Island, which floats in Omura Bay.
The airport opened in 1975 and had no problems with tanuki until 20
years later, when the creatures were first sighted on the island.

"Perhaps they crossed over a bridge, or swam. We've got no idea how they
came to be living inside the airport," an official said. Nagasaki
Prefectural Government officials said that several tanuki once lived on
Mishima. However, when construction of the airport began, they all
disappeared.

"We suspect tanuki that once lived on the island have returned there and
survive on handouts of food that people give them," an official of the
prefectural government's environmental protection section said.

Now, about 100 tanuki call Nagasaki Airport their home. Food is
plentiful thanks to the people who feed them bread and cakes, and there
are no natural enemies, such as dogs, on the island. Since the start of
the year, Tanuki have also appeared at a Maritime Self-Defense Force
base located on the opposite shore of Mishima.

Tanuki are nocturnal. They head out at twilight in search of food,
frequently crossing the airport's runway as they do so. This has led to
10 minor accidents in the past two completed years. Flight times have
had to be changed to counter the dangers the tanuki on the runway pose
to aircraft.

Problems surrounding the tanuki are compounded because of the extra work
cleaning up their droppings involves. Airport officials have set up
billboards asking people not to feed the tanuki.

They hope the animals will disappear if their source of food also
vanishes. For the sake of the furry creatures, it is a move that had
better work. Otherwise, airport officials feel they have little choice
but to exterminate the tanuki.

"We don't want to wait to act until after a major accident has
happened," an airport official said. "This is a serious problem for the
airport."

Attached Photo:

Tanuki prowl around Nagasaki Airport


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