Once again, hysteria has begun. Now 700 Canada geese were rounded up and killed so they would not collide with and cause an accident with a plane. To begin with, those birds were living on federally protected land: the Jamaica Wildlife Refuge.
Why was an airport ever built so close to such a sanctuary? That was not a practical thing to have done. While it is possible birds can and have had collisions with planes, it is as possible and likely that there could be near-collisions on airport runways between planes, which would have nothing to do with birds but human error.
In 1977, there was a tragic collision between two passenger planes on a runway in the Canary Islands due to human error — no birds were involved. More than 500 people were killed due to human error.
Is it the goal of the government to destroy the Jamaica Wildlife Refuge? There must be another, more humane way to reduce the threat of plane-bird collisions other than killing the birds.
The skies must be safe for both people and birds.
John Amato
Fresh Meadows
