Fences, Tree-Cutting Not Working, So Airports Are Hiring Deer Hunters

The firecrackers didn’t work. Neither did cutting down the tasty trees. And repairing the fencing where the whitetail deer stole into the Philadelphia International Airport only made them jump higher to get inside.

There are so many of them - more than 50 at last count - they are starting to interfere with air traffic. So far this year, three planes have hit deer on the runways, breaking landing gear, damaging tires and scaring pilots.

Biologists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday began a two-week assault on the deer. Armed with rifles equipped with night-vision scopes and silencers, the wildlife experts plan to kill as many deer as they can.

The venison will be donated to charities.

“If you have a fully loaded 747 coming down the runway and it strikes a deer you have lots of problems,” airport spokesman Mark Pesce said. “It’s really a public safety concern.”

Airports nationwide are having the same problem. USDA biologists have done similar shoots in Chicago, New York and Denver. Orlando hired a consultant to kill off its problem for $100 a deer; the shooter got 43.

The situation is so serious that even a scientist at the Humane Society of the United States called the shoot an unfortunate necessity.

“We’re not going to take the stand that we should be risking jumbo jets to save some deer,” said Dr. Allen Rutberg. He said his organization rarely accepts such actions.

The Federal Aviation Administration said almost 16 percent of all reported deer-plane accidents happened in Pennsylvania.