As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Florida airport cuts down on dangerous bird strikes... by employing adorable border collie who chases fowl seven days a week

One-year-old border collie, Aero, uses herding instincts to chase birds 
Hard-working dog puts in an eight-hour shift seven days a week
Southwest Florida International Airport has used bird dogs since 1999 


PUBLISHED: 10:24, 11 December 2014 | UPDATED: 11:31, 11 December 2014


Birds can pose a real threat to aircraft leaving and arriving into airports. 

So the ingenious folk at Southwest Florida International Airport have employed a very capable new member of staff to take matters into her own paws. 

Meet Aero, a one-year-old border collie, is the fourth in a line of four-legged bird chasers employed by the airport in Fort Myers.

In her day-to-day job, Aero stalks birds on the airfield, using her herding instincts to chase them away from the runway.

'She acts as a natural predator, as opposed to some of the other techniques we use,' said Derek Faulkner, a Lee County Port Authority operations agent who works with Aero.

And the hard-working hound is unafraid of putting the hours in, working an eight-hour shift seven days a week - more than her human counterparts.

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