02/28/2003 - Updated 09:01 AM ET Miami airport vulture problems may prove deadly to runway rabbits MIAMI (AP) =97 Miami International Airport has a vulture problem. To solve= =20 it, airport officials say they will likely have to kill hundreds of=20 rabbits. About 500 black tail jackrabbits, a nonnative species, live in the= =20 grassy areas between runways, chasing each other and often getting crushed= =20 under aircraft tires. "Our airside people can't bag the carcasses fast=20 enough," said Insom Kim, an airport spokeswoman. The dead rabbits draw in=20 turkey vultures that hover above the runway and jeopardize planes landing=20 and taking off. The buzzards fly in to feast on the hare carcasses and=20 collide into windshields and propellers or get sucked into jet engines.=20 Efforts to permanently scare away the birds, including using pyrotechnics,= =20 propane cannons and sirens, have failed. Animal experts say the birds have= =20 become accustomed to the measures. Last year, birds slammed 12 times into=20 airplanes at the airport. So far this year, it has happened 12 times,=20 officials say. Nationally, about 3,000 incidents of planes hitting birds =97 bird strikes = =97=20 are reported to the Federal Aviation Administration every year. Between=20 1990 and 2001, 101 people were hurt and six killed on U.S. airplanes after= =20 bird strikes, according to the FAA. Last week, the FAA told Miami=20 International Airport that if it could not get rid of the vultures, it=20 would have to eliminate the bird' source of food =97 the rabbits. Airport=20 officials met with animal experts and concluded that shooting the rabbits=20 would be the best way to eliminate them for good. "It's not an easy=20 decision to take a life," airport Assistant Aviation Director Bruce Drum=20 said. "But if you don't get every pair, they'll be back in a year." The rabbits are not native to South Florida and no knows how they came to=20 inhabit the airport, but speculation centers on them being accidental cargo= =20 from western states. They have no natural predators inside the airport and= =20 are multiplying unabated. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animal rights group, has=20 asked the airport for more time so it can find an alternative solution.=20 "They've got a problem and they need to solve it," said Stephanie Boyles, a= =20 PETA wildlife biologist. "Maybe using live traps and relocation are the=20 answer." Metrozoo spokesman Ron Magill said trapping the rabbits is not an= =20 option because they breed too fast. And because they're foreign to Florida,= =20 they can't be relocated elsewhere in the state. "They will be reproducing=20 doubly as fast as they are being captured," he said. "As difficult as it is= =20 for me to say this =97 you have to shoot them." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.dbombo.net/muddyangels/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************