Bird's worst enemy is aircraft's best canine friend

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jessica Lockoski
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Some dogs chase cars or balls. Others chase cats. At McConnell, Jet, a four-year old Border collie, chases away birds that threaten aircrew and aircraft safety. 

He has become a familiar presence to visitors at the base's Wing Safety office and a permanent presence to all birds on the flight line and the geese on farm fields surrounding the base. 

The BASH program utilizes humane methods to prevent birdstrikes by keeping birds from the aircraft flight paths. The program includes habitat management and the use of a border collie. 

By using Jet's natural herding instinct to chase away the birds, both flocks and individual fowl are spared the dangers of blazing aircraft engines and aircraft are kept safe as well. 

"There've been 100 bird strikes here this year so far," said Maj. Robert Hoeritz, 22nd Wing Safety Office, referring to the incidents when birds have had direct impact with flying aircraft. "In the past, there have been up to 200 bird strikes per year and 3,300 strikes Air Force-wide, costing 250 million dollars in damage." 

Preventing bird strikes is much easier for Jet because he loves his job. He knows when it's time to go to work when his handler and caretaker, Lauren Caister, base wildlife manager and animal behavior expert, puts him in the back of her 4Runner. 

He gets antsy and circles around on the drive to fields and ponds that McConnell neighbors permit Jet to patrol. When the car slows to a stop, he knows he must wait for his handler's command to pursue the feathered fowl. 

After a series of high pitched whistle commands instructing him to clear the geese, Jet takes off in a sprint of pure bliss. 

"He can work 24/7/365," said Caister. "Border collies are highly intelligent and workaholics. The program uses rescued Border collies that are trained for up to a year before they are put to work." 

About five percent of the rescue dogs are unfit for domesticated use because they are so work-oriented, she said. After hundreds of years of breeding, the kill instinct has been bred out of Border collies. This trait also allows them to work with endangered species. 

Kansas is located in the Central Flyway which is a prime area for migratory northern birds that fly southward. 

"In the fall, there are mass movements of migratory birds passing through," said Caister. "Canada geese alone increase from 3,000 to more than 30,000 from around November to March, depending on temperatures."

The BASH program uses several different methods to make the airfield environment less attractive to birds, such as controlling grass height, and taking action to remove standing water, explained Major Hoeritz. Jet is a valuable and effective resource which allows rapid response to successfully move birds that pose a threat to our aircraft and aircrew. 

Lauren points out that birds are smart creatures despite what people think. Sometimes even air cannons used as scaring devices on the flight line won't faze them. 

"Birds can be found sitting on top of the cannons and they know when to expect the timers to go off," she said. "After the cannons produce the loud noise that scares them, they (birds) come back and land on them again." 

Jet acts as a predator to these birds. Because he poses an actual and not just perceived threa the birds do not habituate to him. After several rounds of patrolling a particular area, they remember the furry canine lurking on the ground. Few choose to return. 

Since Jet's arrival in May 2007, there has been a 30 percent reduction in bird strikes. That means Jet is staying busy on the ground so McConnell aircraft and aircrews stay safe in the skies.