Miami must decide fate of runway rabbits MIAMI (AP) =97 An animal trapper has stepped forward with an offer that= could=20 spare the lives of about 500 black-tailed jackrabbits slated to be=20 exterminated because they are breeding unabated near runways at Miami=20 International Airport. Steven Rosen of Plantation has offered to pay for=20 the cost of flying the rabbits to an animal rights ranch in Texas. Airport= =20 officials have agreed to meet with Rosen on Thursday to discuss his plan.=20 The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered the airport to rid its=20 grounds of the wild hares. The animals get run over by aircraft and their=20 carcasses attract hungry turkey vultures that hover above the runway and=20 jeopardize planes landing and taking off. Airport director Angela Gittens=20 has signed off on a proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to have= =20 Wildlife Service agents kill the rabbits with shotguns and pellet rifles,=20 but she won't submit it to the agency before meeting with Rosen, said=20 airport spokesman Marc Henderson. The USDA's plan could cost the airport=20 $19,549. After the initial sweep, which would have to be carried out within= =20 a year, USDA officials would have to keep coming back to make sure no=20 rabbits remained on airport grounds. Rosen estimates that it would cost him= =20 $7,500 to trap the rabbits and fly them to Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison,= =20 about 71 miles southeast of Dallas. The FAA reports that between 1990 and=20 2001, 101 people were injured in the United States and six killed when=20 birds smashed into windshields or got sucked into engines on landing or=20 takeoff. Since 1998 birds have hit five moving planes at MIA and 20 at Fort= =20 Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. No one was hurt in those bird=20 strikes. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx 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.ttsailing.org/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************