Killing birds is always last resort.

• Position: SPORTS

Byline: Mark Blazis

COLUMN: OUTDOORS

As our bush plane circled the remote Kalahari airstrip a second time, the Land Rover below cautiously drove around its periphery. They weren't doing a photographic game drive this time. Rather, the unarmed ground crew was taking the essential precaution performed before each and every landing to prevent collisions with big game.

Elephants, kudu, buffalo, zebras and other wildlife daily wander onto the dirt runways at safari camps of the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Guides never want to kill any game there, as their job is to show the all the wildlife - timid or dangerous - to awestruck photographers. So they daily make their rounds, gently but effectively persuading game to move. All over the world, airports and wildlife don't mix well.

The concern for wildlife jeopardizing public safety concern is no different at our Worcester Regional Airport - except that wildlife occasionally is shot here.

It's difficult for even the most ardent conservationists to argue against killing wildlife to save people's lives. All over the world, birds are most often targeted, as they cause by far the most accidents. The Israeli Air Force has lost more aircraft to bird strikes than it has in its entire history to enemy fire.

Unfortunately for birds, airports are built without consideration for their impact on them. JFK and LaGuardia were built in the middle of the prolific Atlantic flyway. The near-catastrophe that was averted by a heroic captain landing his geese-struck plane on the Hudson River is only one of many bird strikes that have been recorded there, and surely will happen again. As much as the practice is distasteful to everyone, the regular eradication of large numbers of birds there and at other airports is the heavy price we must pay for the sake of public safety.

To the surprise of many, America's worst high-fatality, bird-caused crash occurred at Boston's Logan Airport in 1960 when a massive flock of starlings struck a plane, killing 62 of the 72 on board. With Mass Audubon's input, public safety management strategies were developed to hurt wildlife minimally. Standard bird control across the country today starts with making airports as inhospitable as possible to wildlife, using nonlethal methods first, and shooting to kill only as a last resort.

Analysis of accidents reveals that single small birds are infrequent problems. However, large flocks of small birds can prove dangerous. Before the South Weymouth...