It might sound like some kind of entertaining event for charity – but this occurrence is far from being a nice one.
The powers that be at Manchester Airport are intending to get rid of a full eight hundred rooks that are nesting nearby. The reason behind this intended cull is that they are posing a danger to aircraft that are taking off and landing at the airport on a daily basis.
This might initially sound like an overreaction, but in order to understand the situation fully we should explore what danger these birds – or indeed any birds – face when close to an aircraft. You might think that a bird is no match for an aeroplane and in one sense you would be right. But they are also capable of unintentionally causing a lot of damage.
Bird strikes can be very dangerous to planes, as they can result in the engine to fail, which then leads to a crash landing. They have been known to cause many deaths through these crashes, which is why the airport is right to be concerned about the fact that there are so many rooks close by, and on a flight path.
But it is the way they want to get rid of the problem that is causing so much bad feeling. A spokesman said that their utmost concern was “to reduce the risk of an aircraft bird strike and maintain public safety.” And this is of course perfectly acceptable and right. They do already have a number of tactics that they use to repel the birds away from areas where they could cause damage. But it would seem that this is not enough.
This has led to a petition being mounted by lots of local bird watchers, who clearly do not want to see this solution being used. This petition has now been sent to Manchester Airport, and as a result the airport has put a hold on performing the mass culling. They have not gone as far as saying they won’t do it, but the birds are safe, at least for now.
The idea is apparently to get together with members of the community – including, presumably, these bird watchers – to discuss how the problem could be solved without taking this step. It is something of a relief to discover that those at the airport have held back on completing their plan and are now willing to discuss what could be done to solve it in some other way.
Although together with that, it is also obvious to think that they could have made these approaches at an earlier stage, instead of going ahead with their initial plan. They did apparently hold talks with the National Trust, as the rooks are residing on land that belongs to them. But obviously the resulting discussions and plans did not prove successful, and the cull was decided upon.
So will the rooks live to see another day? Hopefully – but as discussions are ongoing no decision has yet been reached.