Nagasaki/Tanuki tarmac escapades rile airport authorities

[Guest guest]

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021216wo3a.htm

 

Nagasaki/Tanuki tarmac escapades rile airport

authorities

 

Yomiuri Shimbun

 

Nagasaki Airport officials are racking their brains

for ways to deter tanuki, also called raccoon dogs,

from romping along the runway at peak times.

 

The tanuki population near the airport has been

increasing since the late 1990s, posing a danger to

aircraft and the animals themselves.

 

Ten of the critters were run over by airplanes in 2000

and 2001, and six have been squashed so far this year.

 

 

The officials have carried out two extermination

projects and erected a new fence around the runway, to

little avail.

 

The officials said it was long thought that the tanuki

population of Mishima island, where the airport is

located, was decimated when the airport was built in

the 1970s. However, by the late 1990s they were back

in force.

 

" I have no idea how they came here, " one official

said. " Maybe they crossed the bridge from Kyushu,

maybe they swam across. "

 

Tanuki generally stay to the west of the airport

during the day and cross the runway to look for food

in the evening--the busiest time of day.

 

About 20 flights take off and land between 4 p.m. to 6

p.m. each day, the airport officials said.

 

The officials tried to exterminate the tanuki in 1999,

but canceled the project after animal rights groups

objected.

 

Faced with an increase in the tanuki population, they

carried out another extermination project from late

October to early November. Their kill count of 20,

however, did not have much of an impact. The tanuki

population is estimated at about 100.

 

The critters were out in force one night in late

November, when they surrounded a reporter's car on a

road near the airport terminal building in Omura.

 

At first they looked cute, but once some food had been

scattered along the road, dozens of the animals

scampered from roadside bushes for a share of the

bounty.

 

A short time later some young people drove up and

stopped their car. " Look! they're so cute! " one woman

said.

 

Throughout the evening, many others stopped their cars

to check out the tanuki.

 

The airport, which opened in 1975, was the first in

Japan to be built on reclaimed land. It is connected

to Kyushu by the 970-meter Mishima Ohashi bridge.

 

Initially called Omura Airport, it was renamed

Nagasaki Airport when the runway was extended from

2,500 meters to 3,000 meters.

 

Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

http://mailplus.