In the sky above the runway of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Dutch aviation hub, a group of animals has been enlisted to deal with the danger.
A six weeks Pilot project It is being studied whether a small herd of pigs can prevent flocks of geese and other birds from being attracted by sugar beets discarded on nearby farmland.
These 19 pigs have been enjoying their lives on the 2 hectares (5 acres) of land between the two runways, turning a crop residue into a muddy haven, and eating food that attracts birds, which may collide with airplanes. In the worst case, the case even gets Suction engine.
Two years ago, a KLM Boeing 747 Was hit by a suspected “bird strike”, Had to return to the airport. This is also the reason for the famous National Aviation disaster in 2009, when both engines lost power. The captain, Chesley Sully, He had to land his injured Airbus A320 on the Hudson River.
In the year beginning in November 2018, there were 565 strikes near Schiphol Airport, which peaked in the summer. Due to reduced air traffic during the coronavirus pandemic, this number will drop to 259 in 2020-21.
Photo: Steven Dai/Splash
Ernst Koelman of the Dutch Human and Traffic Environmental Inspectorate said that the government regards every bird strike as a “potential risk” and records every incident.
However, an airport that has long been aware of security risks-surrounded by natural areas that attract wildlife-has 20 bird controllers tracking bird activity and using technologies such as noise and laser beams to stop them.
Stan Gloudemans, the co-owner of a small outdoor pig farm, Extraordinary pig (“Extraordinary Pig”), when the Royal Schiphol Group, which manages the airport, came to him to see if his animals could do more, he wanted to help.
“Geese like beet, and when it stays in the field, they will swarm to eat it,” he told the Guardian while visiting a trampled field in western Amsterdam. “There are 30 geese eating beets over there, but these geese pose a threat to the plane. Here, the pigs have eaten up the beets, so the geese stayed away.
“This is a two-hectare experiment, although Haarlemmermeer [the district surrounding the airport] It’s 2,000. I dare say it has succeeded; next year, go to a bigger field! “
The trial is being carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Resources Management, the agricultural supply agency RVR Loonbedrijf and Buitengewone Varkens Portuguese and Spanish pigs eating acorns.
“Schiphol Airport came to us because most of the other pigs are in the pigsty,” said Grodmans, who filled the trough with supplementary feed as he ran, and then the pigs at an amazing speed. “All our pigs are outdoors. We have about 300 pigs a year. They eat nettles, municipal knotweed and other plants in the nature reserve: they like everything. Schiphol Airport asked them if they could eat beets and drive away geese. “
He said that the growing number of wild birds in the Netherlands has brought increasing challenges to air transportation. “Have There are now 10 times the number of geese in the Netherlands than in 1970 – The geese in the Netherlands are big,” he added.
“Geese are dangerous, but they are animals, and you need to deal with them in the right way. Pigs are a double enemy: he tries to catch the geese while also eating their food. This is a double attack.”
Royal Schiphol Airport Group spokesperson Willemeike Koster said that after the “informative” trial period that has just ended, the airport is considering whether it can deploy pigs on a larger scale.Speaking of the reclaimed land in the area, she said: “Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is located Polder The landscape has a lot of water, grassland and fertile farmland. These factors have made Schiphol Airport a popular habitat for birds. However, birds pose a risk to aircraft.
“Our first impression is that very few geese have been found in [pigs’] area. Pigs do their job by eating crop residues that have now disappeared. All data collected from bird radar and visual observation, among other things, will be analyzed in the coming months. “
Although the aircraft taxiing and taking off were loud and frequent, there was no evidence that the pigs were disturbed and their tails wagging high.
Hermann Vermeer, a pig welfare researcher at Wageningen University and Research Center, said that although he did not investigate the effects of noise on outdoor pigs, they are likely to be well adjusted.
“Pigs usually need to be quiet to communicate with each other; for example, when a mother and piglet are in a stall, the noise will disturb them,” he said. “But in outdoor situations, pigs are usually shocked when they hear the noise for the first time, but they are also opportunistic and flexible.
“I hope that if they know the noise, they will behave normally, just like people who don’t have any problems near the train station or airport,” Vermeer added. “If they are unhappy, they will behave like dogs on their tails.”
sign up Animal breeding monthly update Get a roundup of the world’s largest agricultural and food stories and keep up with our investigations.You can send us your stories and ideas Animalfarmed@theguardian.com
