New York – Animal Advocates Sue Over Airport Battle With Snowy Owls

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    New York – A Connecticut animal advocacy group has sued several federal agencies over a recently halted practice of shooting snowy owls near airport runways in New York.

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    The Connecticut Post reports (http://bit.ly/1cRxnbt ) that Friends of Animals in Darien targets the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

    Micahel Harris, the lawyer representing Friends of Animals, said a halt to the shooting does not matter. He says shooting owls could resume and advocates want to know what the guidelines are.

    “The fact that they stopped the shooting doesn’t make this a moot point,” he said.

    The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said early this month that five planes at JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports had been struck by snowy owls. Officials said two owls were shot before the practice was suspended.

    Terri Edwards, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency issues permits allowing major airports to control threatening animal populations. The permits are issued annually under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

    “In almost all cases, non-lethal control efforts are used,” she said. “Noise, scare tactics, that kind of thing. But in certain cases – when there’s an emergency situation – the permit does authorize lethal takes.”

    Carol Bannerman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said that federal aviation records for bird strikes involving planes show that of 66 species, snowy owls are No. 17th.

    “They can be damaging,” she said.

    But Priscilla Feral, executive director of Friends of Animals, says shooting the owls is “kind of a sick idea.”

    “But that aside, we’re saying in the lawsuit that the law does not protect this killing of the snowy owls and that they have violated environmental laws in doing so,” she said.


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    5 Comments
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    sheepheadsbayyid
    sheepheadsbayyid
    10 years ago

    as an animal lover this is nonsense would they rather the owl get sucked into a jet engine or a plane go down

    honestbroker
    honestbroker
    10 years ago

    Would these animal advocacy people like to be sitting on the plane munching on their complimentary pretzels while a snowy owl gets sucked into the engine during takeoff?
    Or are they giving us these instructions while somebody else’s children are on the plane, and they’re perched up in their redwood tree munching on their organically harvested mushroom spores?

    10 years ago

    Every time, something such as this matter arises, such as with the Canadian Geese, we hear the same breast beating by the animal lovers. These same individuals claim that the animals were there first, that WE are invading their natural habit, that we are being cruel and inhumane, and hence, we should look the other way, and leave the poor, defenseless birds along. The fact of the matter, is that in 1960, an Eastern Air Lines Electra crashed upon takeoff at Boston, because of bird strikes, killing over 100 passengers. There have been other fatalities involving military planes, as well as countless commercial aircraft which had to make forced landings, because of bird strikes. One time, I was landing a Cessna 152 at my local airport, when all of a sudden, this large, ugly hawk came right at my aircraft. Fortunately, I didn’t hit it. If there was a collision, although the propeller would have made mince meat out of that hawk, its pieces could have blocked my view, from the windshield.

    jonkamm624
    Member
    jonkamm624
    10 years ago

    Well what about the innocent ants that are being crushed on the runways?Maybe they should hire a crew to remove them before each flight.