Wherein We Politely Ask Our Animal Friends To Stop Shutting Down Airports

July 13, 2009 at 5:31 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Just to be very clear: if we were in the midst of a blurry, rushed JFK layover and they delayed flights for 90 minutes because of a turtle orgy, we would be hard-pressed to maintain our pristine environmentalist credentials. Seriously:

Dozens of turtles, presumably on a mating spree, shut down a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport Wednesday morning for 35 minutes, causing flight delays of an hour and a half... It is unclear whether the turtles pair off, or if the numbers indicated it was a group activity... These turtles were 8 to 10 inches long and weighed 2 to 3 pounds.

This is beginning to get out of hand. Two months ago Logan was shut down for a couple hours by a stray coyote. In Oregon they actually had to train a dog to chase away the birds that kept shutting down runways. You'd think that wild animals would have some kind of instinct that says "stay away from the giant shiny loud thing," but apparently not so much.

At least we don't have the problems they have at India's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Last year's seasonal rains forced birds, jackals, and several large monitor lizards to seek refuge on the airport's paved runways. The year before that they had to relocate over 50 Nilgai away from the airport. You might not know what Nilgai look like, but they're also known as "blue bulls." They get that name on account of their 5 ft height and ox-like appearance. Dude.

[Photo: NOAA photo library / Wiki Commons]

Related Stories:
· Turtle Brigade Delays Flights at J.F.K. [NYT City Room]
· Animals Coverage [Jaunted]
· Airports Coverage [Jaunted]

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