Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport uses a team of 20 pigs to keep geese, a possible hazard to planes, off its runways, BBC News reported.
The pigs graze on farmland between the runways and clear residue from the sugar beet harvest that attracts geese, according to BBC. Because the airport is below sea level, the farmland is fertile, which also attracts geese, according to BBC. In 2020, Schiphol Airport recorded 150 bird strikes.
A BBC correspondent remarked on how the pigs are “sensitive, intelligent creatures” and asked how they feel being close to runways.
“Here they’ve got like four soccer fields and they have the same houses, the same water system, the same feed system, and they have the same houses, the same water system, the same feed system, so for us this is really normal to keep them this way,” farmer Josse Haarhuis said.
“The few weeks they’ve been here, there were no birds seen in this field,” said Yvonne Versteeg, who is in charge of flora and fauna at the airport.
In addition to the pigs, Schiphol Airport also uses bird-scaring technology such as sound generators and green lasers to keep the geese away.
- Karlston
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