United’s Plan To Protect Hawks Near Airports? Send Them To Golf Courses

NEWARK, NJ — United Airlines and Audubon International are teaming up for a strange solution to protect raptors “threatened” by living near Newark Airport: Send them to nearby golf courses.

On Monday, United and Audubon International announced that they plan to launch the United Eco-Skies Raptor Relocation Program at Newark Liberty International Airport later this month.

According to a joint statement, the program will protect at-risk and threatened species of birds of prey such as hawks, ospreys and owls by transporting the animals to golf courses certified within the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program.

United and Audubon stated that they will also work closely with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which partners with other agencies to safely capture threatened birds at New York-area airports.

“As the official airline of the PGA Tour, United is uniquely positioned to help identify suitable golf course habitats with Audubon International for relocation purposes and help inform the public on the importance of environmental sustainability,” the airline stated.

"Thousands of golf courses across the world have adopted environmentally sustainable property management practices that support wildlife habitat through our Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program,” said Christine Kane, Audubon International's executive director. “Bringing this all together to provide safe, high-quality habitat for raptors is a great success."

KILLING BIRDS AT AIRPORTS

Since a 2009 accident when a jetliner was forced to land in the Hudson river after birds were sucked into its engine, nearly 70,000 gulls, starling, geese and other birds have been slaughtered in the New York City area in an effort to make flight paths safer, The Guardian reported in January.

New York’s LaGuardia and New Jersey’s Newark airports tallied 158 strikes per year in the five years before the Hudson River accident and an average of 299 per year in the six years after, the Huffington Post reported.

"The presence of wildlife at our airports can pose a challenge to pilots operating commercial aircraft," said Laura Francoeur, the Port Authority's chief wildlife biologist. "The agency implements wildlife management measures to reduce these challenges, and we continue to work with our airline partners and organizations such as United and Audubon International to ensure safe operations while protecting nature."

However, the leading causes of fatal plane crash accidents are pilot error (50%), mechanical error (22%) and weather (12%), according to GooseWatchNYC.com.

“Only a fraction of 1% can be attributed to the entire category of wildlife, geese representing a fraction of that number,” the blog states.

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo: Greg Hume / Wikipedia, American Kestrel

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page here.