BUZZARDS
BEWARE
By Justin Rohrlich & Heather Timmons
January 31, 2019
The
county of Cambridgeshire in eastern England is known for its medieval college
town, miles of marshy
lowlands, and plethora of
bird life. The latter poses some ongoing hazards for US Air
Force pilots stationed there. According to a recently released federal-contracting
document, the US military is looking to hire a wildlife-control
expert for a four-year job that will “focus on eliminating or minimizing
wildlife hazards for safe air and ground support operations” at two bases in
Lakenheath and Mildenhall.
The US
Air Force, which has thousands of personnel at British Royal Air Force
bases at Lakenheath and Mildenhall, seeks to “reduce the attraction of wildlife
to the airbase” and “deny the use of airspace to birds there.”
Qualified
vendors “shall perform bird and wildlife control necessary to repel, capture,
or kill as authorized,” the Air Force bid request states. “The contractor shall
provide any air rifles or other hunting weapons as well as the necessary
ammunition. The contractor shall furnish munitions storage.” It adds, “The
contractor shall retrieve and properly dispose of the remains of all disabled,
maimed or dead animals from the airfield/aerodrome area in accordance with UK
laws and regulations.”
The
contractor may also use dogs, “non-lethal harassment” (aka firecrackers), as
well as “trapping, relocation, depredation, removal, disposal, airfield patrol,
[and] perimeter fence monitoring,” among other options.
