Next time you’re taxiing down the runway at Southwest Florida International airport, don’t be alarmed if you spot a Border Collie yapping along outside your window — he’s the newest staff member, and just doing his job.
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The Collie named Radar is specially trained to patrol the runways to scare away birds. The dog patrol scheme was in response to FAA statistics that have reported an increase in the number of airplane vs. bird collisions recently, and staff members say the dog is a bigger deterrent than scarecrows which birds quickly get used to.
Radar isn’t the first canine to be used to get rid of birds at the airport – his predecessor, Jet, who retired in 2001 was the first dog to be used by an airport for wildlife control.