ISLAMABAD: Animal welfare organisation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has discouraged the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority to reverse its “deadly” decision to deploy bird shooters on the runway at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore and use humane bird deterrents instead.

A letter by the organisation was sent to director general of the authority Khaqan Murtaza regarding the recently reported plan to use lethal means in an attempt to deter birds from colliding with airplanes.

“Money spent on shooting or poisoning birds at airports is wasted on an endless killing cycle because when wild animals are killed, more will simply move in to take advantage of the available resources. Effective wildlife-management programmes are based on a simple rule: If you remove food sources and make an environment unattractive to wildlife, animals will move on. PETA, recommends banning the public from feeding wildlife, installing fencing, planting dense vegetation around nearby water sources, and implementing non-lethal scare tactics, such as sonic devices, lasers, motion detectors, scarecrows, or mylar streamers in order to prevent animals from frequenting an area,” said Shalin G Gala, vice president of International Laboratory Methods.

In response to the letter, the authority highlighted that bird shooters were deployed as a last resort, when the bird population around airfields becomes difficult to control and risk of collisions with aircraft increases.

“Clearing airfields of birds is a round the year activity. Trimming grass, clearing vegetation, use of fire crackers, acoustic systems and flashing bright lights are some of the measures already in use. There is already a plan to acquire modern sound devices to scare birds away and prevent collisions with aircraft. But bird concentration becomes a problem after Eidul Azha and especially in monsoon. Bird shooters are only deployed when danger of bird strikes is critical,” said Saifullah, who is the spokesperson for CAA.

He elaborated on the door-to-door drives and campaigns on radio and television to create awareness about keeping neighbourhoods clean and the risks of littering around airfields.

“Fortunately, nine out of 10 bird strikes in the past have been reported by pilots after safely landing,” he said.

From 2018 till May 31, 2022, about 662 incidents of bird strike were reported to the authority. Since 2018, there have been 198 bird strikes at the Lahore airport alone, Karachi followed with 192 bird strikes in the last four years, 100 bird strikes have been reported in Islamabad, 40 in Peshawar, 26 in Multan, 53 in Sialkot, 22 in Faisalabad, five in Gilgit, 17 in Quetta, four in Sukkur and one in Skardu.

So far, from January till May 31, this year, there have been 48 bird strikes. The authority is compiling reports of bird strikes in the last few months since Eid and during monsoon when bird concentration around airfields is the highest than at any other time of the year.

“No air space is free from this phenomenon. Of course, safety of passengers is paramount. Damage to aircraft can cause loss of millions of dollars, which causes flight delays. Nonetheless, the authority is in the process of inducting technology to prevent such incidents,” Saifullah said.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2022