South Bend Wants Greater Latitude in Critter Control

SOUTH BEND -- The airport here has already turned to fences to keep animals away from planes.

Now, if its executive director gets his wish, it can turn to bullets, too.

Today, John Schalliol will be in Indianapolis to testify on behalf of House Bill 1146, which would allow state or federal wildlife workers to kill animals under certain conditions.

The bill would be a boon for South Bend Regional Airport, which has seen its fair share of deer, coyotes, foxes and birds, Schalliol said.

"It behooves us to keep these animals out of the airport," Schalliol said. "I think reasonable people will understand what we're asking for."

Just what are advocates asking for? Here's how a digest of the bill, posted on the state's Web site, , puts it.

The bill, the digest says, would allow "an employee of the Department of Natural Resources or an employee of a federal wildlife management agency to use an artificial light or a silencer to take an animal if the employee: (1) is acting in the performance of the employee's duties; and (2) has received the express written consent of the director of the DNR."

Schalliol conceded that bill will would turn many stomachs, but added that it would ensure only trained shooters kill animals, so as to promote passenger safety.

Guns, like fences, could prove an important animal control tool at the airport, he said. In April, a $987,000 fencing project will be finished. The fencing installed so far has thinned the airport's herd of deer from 25 to just one, Schalliol said.

Installing fences and shooting animals are among the many steps airports take to reduce animal problems, according to one expert. Carol Bannerman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, said officials use "a variety of techniques" to do so.

Other techniques include everything from using firecrackers to ensuring that landfills -- which attract birds -- aren't located near airports.

Nationally, plane-animal collisions cost the civil aviation industry some $550 million each year, she said.

In South Bend, a plane flew into a flock of mourning doves in 1990, Tribune archives indicate, while planes struck deer in 1992 and 2002.

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