Airport Hires 'Bird Collie'

150 haven't taken required steps

(NEWSER) - A third of US airports haven't completed a mandated study of their bird-strike risk, USA Today reports. "This problem has been ignored and shuffled to the side by the aviation community," said an airport wildlife-control expert. The 150 airports won't be named until the FAA has contacted each one. The study is the first step in the process of creating a plan to safeguard an airport's planes from wildlife. More»

Agency compelled to release statistics after Flight 1549

(NEWSER) - Collisions between airplanes and birds have increased dramatically since 2000, with the number of instances at 13 major US airports doubling. New York’s JFK topped the list with the most avian accidents—30—since 2000, with California’s Sacramento International the runner-up at 28, the AP reports. Both are in areas—wetlands at JFK, farmland around Sacramento—that attract birds. More»

(NEWSER) - The FAA wants bird strike information kept confidential to encourage accurate reporting by airlines, ABC News reports. “There is a serious potential that information related to bird strikes will not be submitted because of fear that the disclosure of raw data could unfairly cast unfounded aspersions on the submitter,” the agency wrote in a notice. More»

Welsh corgi appears at hotel 4 days after owner is killed

(NEWSER) - Avalanches claimed the lives of three Montanans , but a feisty fighter they didn't get was the dog of one of the dead men. Rescuers were certain Ole, a Welsh corgi, was buried along with his owner last weekend. They saw no sign of the dog when they searched for victims. But Ole turned up hungry and exhausted four days later at the vacation lodge where his family had been staying. Owner Dave Gaillard was swept away in the avalanche near the southern border of Montana during a cross-country ski outing. More»

Dog slips down sheer cliff chasing bottle, owner goes after her

(NEWSER) - Los Angeles firefighters saved a hiker in a hair-raising rescue after the teen went over a sheer cliff to save his terrified dog. Ivan Salas' year-old shepherd mix, Lola, slipped 150 feet over the edge as she chased a water bottle tossed by Salas' dad while the men were traveling on a rugged ridge in the northeast section of the San Fernando Valley. Firefighters determined a helicopter rescue was too dangerous, so rescuers rappelled down to harness Salas and Lola, and guide them off the cliff. Rocks "were hitting me in the face and my dog, too, and then my dog started panicking. She was going crazy. I just grabbed her tight,” Salas, 19, told KABC TV in LA. More»