Wildlife control contractors have shot almost 26,000 birds at John F. Kennedy International Airport over the past five years to stop them interfering with passenger flights — including more than 1,600 protected birds the airport did not have express permission to kill, internal records show.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, was granted limited permission to shoot "problem" species — mainly seagulls, geese and mourning doves — named on a special kill permit issued each year by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
But the authority's own records show that between 2009 and 2013, they killed 1,628 birds from 18 different species that are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and are not named on the permits.
That list includes snowy egrets, red-winged blackbirds and American kestrels.
"It appears they will kill anything they see and they don't think twice about it," said Jennifer Barnes, an attorney with animal advocacy group Friends of Animals which recently filed a federal lawsuit to suspend the killing of all migratory birds at Kennedy.
10 comments:
This should be done to the bottom of the barrel low-lives that live in communities, who shoot, stab, rob, throw garbage all over, you know the people who make the quality of life a mess for everyone else, not beautiful birds who bring beauty to an already ugly world. These birds could easily be moved to another area as opposed to this slaughter.
Do they really have a choice? It's very unfortunate that JFK sits adjacent to major bird estuary.
Do they have a choice when it comes to tiny birds that can fit in the palm of one's hand? I believe they do.
Look at a map of Jamaica Bay and its various estuaries that contain thousands of birds. It's huge. If there is no way of moving them someplace else, then the airport has no other choice but to shoot or at least scare them away from flight paths. Even the tiniest of birds can have catastrophic consequences on a mechanical bird carrying 400 passengers.
Actually, the tiniest birds would be shredded to ribbons. Furthermore, if you read the article at all, you'd understand that the Port Authority did not have permission to kill them.
there is the choice to not expand JFK any further considering that it has been built up adjacent to a wild life sanctuary.
An alternative would be to locate any further expansion at Newburgh airport north of the city which has many hundreds of surplus acres for expansion.
Leave the birds alone. What is wrong with people today?
There's a reason nobody uses Stewart airport anon 2
I hear what I assume are gun shots to scare birds away from the airport everyday. I didn't know they were killing birds. The birds they are killing aren't in big flocks like the Canada Geese. It's crazy to think that every bird near an airport must be killed.
seems like some employees at JFK have developed a taste for killing
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