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With jackals trapped, IGI airport is a safer zone

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: It is a peculiar four-legged problem that Delhi airport had been battling for years -- jackals and dogs on the runway. Known to have brought more than one aircraft to a screeching halt, these crafty creatures had been giving officials sleepless nights. But with help from Wildlife SOS, some American traps and plenty of technology, the Delhi airport is now officially an animal-free zone.

"Six jackals, two feral cats and ten feral dogs were captured from the airport area. The jackals were put in a quarantine period, checked and certified for release by a veterinary doctor. They were trans-located in the Capital's south-central Ridge by the Wildlife Department on Friday. The dogs have been handed over to the NGO Friendicoes SECA,'' says Baiju Raj, who led the team from Wildlife SOS.

While this might sound like an unusual problem, Delhi airport is not alone with its wildlife problems. With airports requiring vast expanse of lands, animal issues are quite common at airports across the world.

"In the U.S., elks and even pumas have found their way to airports. They can cause airports and airlines billions of dollars in damage. In Western countries, these problems are usually handled after scientific studies to understand why it occurs. I am very happy that GMR has decided not to take a short cut and really study the issue scientifically,'' says Kartick Satyanarayan of Wildlife SOS.

Looking at a long-term solution to the issue, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) team has asked Wildlife SOS to study the problem and give its recommendations. Wildlife SOS used the Global Position System (GPS) to literally trail the jackals for weeks before finally laying a trap for them.

"A group of jackals had survived inside Delhi airport, perhaps from the time when the perimeter wall was built around the 2,000-acre airport area. We used GPS to map the locations of the jackals. This took us a long time. Jackals are extremely clever animals so it is not easy to set a trap for them. So we designed traps used for racoons in the U.S. These traps are of soft mesh and ensure that the animal is not under any distress when caught,'' disclosed Mr. Satyanarayan.

The traps were then camouflaged for two weeks so the jackals could get accustomed to them. This is the first time that the problem has been looked at scientifically at an airport in India, and Wildlife SOS is hoping that it is not the last.

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