CAA: GA News, "Birds are falling for those fake dogs at North Bend, Oregon"

["Stephen Irwin" <Stephen.Irwin@pmail.net>]

Friday, April 14, 2000

Birds are falling for those fake dogs at North Bend, Oregon
GA News


NORTH BEND, Oregon — It’s no secret that aircraft and birds don’t mix.
Millions of dollars are spent at airports all over the world for removal or
population control.

On the advice of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the folks at North Bend
Municipal Airport (OTH) have come upon a decidedly low-tech yet apparently
effective method for dealing with birds: They got a dog, and when that
worked, they made fake dogs out of plywood.

The bird problem is particularly bad at North Bend because the field sits
next to Coos Bay. The marshland attracts all kinds of feathered wildlife,
from geese to sandpipers.

“We have several bird strikes a year,” said Airport Manager Gary LeTellier.
“The worst are the geese. Last year we had minor damage to a Horizon Air
Dash 8, but fortunately no one was hurt. A few years ago a guy in a Piper
Cherokee hit a seagull. That left a bowling-ball sized dent in the wing.”

Several previous eviction methods were tried: pyrotechnics, noise cannons,
shotguns, tape recordings of noise and fake owls. None worked.

“The USDA wildlife department recommended we use a dog,” LeTellier said. “Of
course, a dog can’t be here 24 hours a day, so they recommended we try some
silhouettes on a bungee cord so they’ll weather vane in the wind and move.”

The faux dogs are mobile and can easily be relocated around the field. They
are mounted on flanges, so if a plane hits them they will fall over. So far
the geese have proved to be the only birds that aren’t intimidated by the
fake Fidos.

“It’s difficult to intimidate geese,” LeTellier said. “The only thing that
gets them moving is when Cari (the field’s German shepherd) chases after
them. She was specially trained to haze flocking or roosting birds.”

According to LeTellier, the dog is especially good with starlings that mass
by the thousands.

“When you roust them, they get into dense cells and fly around,” LeTellier
said. “They won’t scatter like most birds. The dog gets them up off the
ground, and as they are flying he gets under them and literally herds them
off the airport.”

The fake dogs have been in place just a few weeks, so it’s too early to tell
if they are having an impact on the bird population.

“We’ll be observing for the next several months to see if there is an
effect,” LeTellier said, adding that the information will be used to create
a wildlife management plan for the airport.

State and federal permission has been granted to use lethal force on the
birds if need be, but LeTellier said he’s hopeful it won’t come to that.


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