sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Wow, the Dept of Agriculture has their own sharpshooters!?
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6261337.htm
Hunting rabbits: Shooters to visit MIA this week
BY CHARLES RABIN
[email protected]
This week, sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are scheduled to make a much-anticipated visit to the grounds of Miami International Airport.
Their mission: to shoot the dozen or so remaining black-tailed jack rabbits that airport officials say continue to threaten aircraft safety.
It means the death penalty for the airport's hare population, which only six weeks ago received a reprieve from a county manager who has since resigned.
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered the airport to get rid of the jack rabbits one way or another. The hares attract turkey vultures, which can wind up hitting windshields or getting sucked into airplane engines.
The airport signed up the USDA to shoot the jack rabbits in February, but after complaints from animal lovers, MIA officials gave volunteers until the end of May to trap the hares and fly them to a ranch in Texas.
When that deadline neared, then-County Manager Steve Shiver announced he was giving the hare removers another month.
After that, Shiver said, the rabbits would not be killed.
The county would set up a hot line and send out trappers on a hare-by-hare basis.
In little more than two months, chief rabbit trapper Todd Hardwick says he has captured more than 315 hares.
But Shiver is gone now, and with him apparently any likelihood of the county's giving trappers more time.
Shiver's replacement, George Burgess, said through his communications office Tuesday that he would let county Aviation Director Angela Gittens deal with the rabbit ordeal.
''We need to bring this process to a close,'' airport spokesman Marc Henderson said. He said the USDA would send in the shooters this week but did not say which day.
Broward County dermatologist Steven Rosen, who paid for the trapping and flights to Texas, said Tuesday that he has hired an attorney and is trying to get an injunction to stop the shooting.
Henderson said it was simply a matter of safety: ``A dozen rabbits, that's what Todd estimated. But rabbits do unfortunately breed. We had a red-tailed hawk swoop down and maul a rabbit at the airport two weeks ago. We still have a safety concern.''
Wow, the Dept of Agriculture has their own sharpshooters!?
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6261337.htm
Hunting rabbits: Shooters to visit MIA this week
BY CHARLES RABIN
[email protected]
This week, sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are scheduled to make a much-anticipated visit to the grounds of Miami International Airport.
Their mission: to shoot the dozen or so remaining black-tailed jack rabbits that airport officials say continue to threaten aircraft safety.
It means the death penalty for the airport's hare population, which only six weeks ago received a reprieve from a county manager who has since resigned.
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered the airport to get rid of the jack rabbits one way or another. The hares attract turkey vultures, which can wind up hitting windshields or getting sucked into airplane engines.
The airport signed up the USDA to shoot the jack rabbits in February, but after complaints from animal lovers, MIA officials gave volunteers until the end of May to trap the hares and fly them to a ranch in Texas.
When that deadline neared, then-County Manager Steve Shiver announced he was giving the hare removers another month.
After that, Shiver said, the rabbits would not be killed.
The county would set up a hot line and send out trappers on a hare-by-hare basis.
In little more than two months, chief rabbit trapper Todd Hardwick says he has captured more than 315 hares.
But Shiver is gone now, and with him apparently any likelihood of the county's giving trappers more time.
Shiver's replacement, George Burgess, said through his communications office Tuesday that he would let county Aviation Director Angela Gittens deal with the rabbit ordeal.
''We need to bring this process to a close,'' airport spokesman Marc Henderson said. He said the USDA would send in the shooters this week but did not say which day.
Broward County dermatologist Steven Rosen, who paid for the trapping and flights to Texas, said Tuesday that he has hired an attorney and is trying to get an injunction to stop the shooting.
Henderson said it was simply a matter of safety: ``A dozen rabbits, that's what Todd estimated. But rabbits do unfortunately breed. We had a red-tailed hawk swoop down and maul a rabbit at the airport two weeks ago. We still have a safety concern.''
