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Turtles delay flights at New York's JFK airport
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By: Agencies |
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Date:
2009-07-09 |
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Place: New York |
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Turtles couldn't get the shell out of the way fast enough yesterday when a departing airliner smacked some on a runway at John F Kennedy Airport.
After taking off at 9.19 am, the pilot of a departing plane radioed the air controllers that he had just run over some turtles.
The runway was shut down for 35 minutes while wildlife control workers removed 78 diamondback terrapin turtles from a section of Runway 4L that is surrounded on both sides by water.
That runway shutdown led to a cascading series of flight delays lasting up to one and a half hours, authorities said.
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Anybody There? It's turtle mating season, so officials suspect the diamondback terrapin turtles were on the runway looking for friends of the opposite sex. | It's turtle mating season, so officials suspect the slow-moving creatures were on the runway looking for friends of the opposite sex.
"It's not unprecedented, but it doesn't happen a lot," said Port Authority spokesman John Kelly.
Airport wildlife control workers removed the turtles, which each weighed two or three pounds, and released them back into the wild.
Turtle and plane collisions are rare just five were reported at Kennedy from 2000 through 2008.
Most wildlife incidents at New York's airports involve birds. But ground animals hit planes too from 2000 through November 2008, along with 39 black-tailed jackrabbits, a cat and even a raccoon.
JFK Airport is surrounded by bays, creeks, swamps and undeveloped land, on which all sorts of wildlife live happily despite the rumbling of aircraft at all hours.
Other residents include rabbits, snakes, Canada geese, feral cats, and the occasional runaway show dog. |
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