Dove, Dogs, and Shotguns

Of course the tree huggers don’t like it, but it looks like some one is going to get to have some fun in Waller. Luckily, Waller is only 20 minutes from my front door, I will be investigating what exactly this means for hunters and will keep everyone posted.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Federal wildlife wardens have granted a Waller County airport permission to kill up to 2,400 birds a year to reduce the danger of collisions with aircraft, stirring a new round of criticism from conservationists.

The permit allows the 2-year-old Houston Executive Airport to kill 13 species of migratory birds, including geese, egrets and sandhill cranes, in an effort to ensure aircraft safety.

Bird advocates argue that the permit confirms their decades-old position that the Katy Prairie, a popular stopping point for migratory birds on the central flyway, is not the right place for an airport.

“Why put an airport in a place full of migratory birds?” said attorney Jim Blackburn, who represented a citizens group that had opposed the development of the airport near wetlands and wildlife preserves. “They will kill thousands of birds, but the problem won’t go away.”

But Jeff Haskins, who leads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s migratory bird office for the Southwest region, said the permit was “kind of a no-brainer. I always side with the aircraft.”

An airplane’s engine can suck in a bird — killing it and, sometimes, the engine. In January, geese sucked into engines forced a US Airways jet to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

More than 7,500 planes collided with birds in 2007, according to the most recent federal data. But the Federal Aviation Administration has said it doesn’t know the full extent of the problem because only about 20 percent of bird strikes are reported.

The Houston Executive Airport, about 35 miles west of downtown, has recorded two bird strikes since opening in January 2007, said Andrew Perry, its executive director.

Airport officials have used loud, startling noises to scare birds away from the runway. The permit allows them to use shotguns and pesticides after every effort has been made to haze birds from the 1,980-acre property.

A wildlife manager under contract with the airport would kill the birds. If any are killed, it likely will happen mostly in the winter, as flocks of migratory fowl arrive.

Perry said the permit is standard operating procedure for an airport “in case there is a need to take an animal for the safety of people and the aircraft.”

The permit is in effect for one year, after which the airport must submit a list of kills to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Airports throughout Texas and the nation must request such permits because transitory birds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 among the United States, Canada, Mexico and many other countries.

Environmentalists had previously raised concerns about potential bird deaths if an airport operated on the prairie, home to hundreds of thousands of wintering geese, ducks and hawks and other resident birds, such as bald eagles and barn owls.

For nearly two decades, the city of Houston debated whether to build a Waller County airport for corporate jets and other smaller planes. But the city abandoned the project in 1998 after the FAA concluded that an airport should not be built on the site because the large number of birds in the area posed a threat.

Perry said the bird population has declined since then because of suburban sprawl.

Still, some bird experts said the permit makes little sense because most birds on the list are abundant.

“Where do you draw the line? Are 2,400 birds enough when thousands of geese winter in Waller County? I don’t think so,” said Cliff Shackelford, an ornithologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

What’s more, the list doesn’t include snow geese—a prominent inhabitant in the winter.

“This is a peculiar list,” said Fred Collins, a former president of the Houston Audubon Society. “It’s hard to recognize what they’re trying to do.”

Haskins, of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency is aware that 2,400 is a small percentage of the birds that winter near the airport.

He said the number is based on the airport wildlife manager’s request.

matthew.tresaugue@chron.com

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