Keeping Sky Clear: New bird dog at SW Florida International protecting flyers by herding other flyers
Sky just might be the happiest employee at Southwest Florida International Airport.
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Sky represents the third generation of working dogs at Southwest Florida International, which was the first commercial airport in the country to use a dog as part of its Wildlife Management Program. Jet, a male Border collie, was adopted in 1999 and worked for about two years. In 2001, Radar was brought on at just more than 2 years old, retiring in June at the ripe age of 9.
The bird dog concept has caught on across the country, where airport operations managers are finding just how efficient dogs can be at keeping birds off the airfield and clear of the runways.
“When we first started the bird dog program, we were reporting like 40 strikes a year,” said Angie Straight. “And now we’re down to about 10.”
/and yet the h8ters think dogs are evil and unclean