Strike One—You’re Out! Wildlife Services Helps Reduce Wildlife Conflicts at Airports

Collisions between aircraft and wildlife at airports have risen dramatically in recent years as a result of large population increases in many wildlife species, faster airplanes, and the increase in air transportation traffic. Every year between 1991 and 1997, wildlife strikes cost U.S. civil aviation more than $300 million and 500,000 hours of aircraft downtime. About 2,400 bird strikes to civil aircraft are reported each year, and more than 2,500 are reported by the U.S. Air Force. Since 1990, more than 300 deer collisions with aircraft have been reported to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)