They act as living scarecrows. The giant Schiphol airport in the Netherlands has hired 20 pigs to stop collisions between birds and planes.

At Schiphol, as at many other major airports around the world, bird strikes are something that air traffic controllers fear. Collisions with larger birds, such as geese, can cause serious injuries, especially if the animals are sucked into the plane's engines.

Last year alone, Schiphol was hit by 150 bird strikes, spokeswoman Willemeike Koster tells the news channel CNN, something that made airport management think.

One of the measures was the pilot project with pigs. The animals are now grazing in an area between two runways, where sugar beets were previously grown.

Their presence serves a dual purpose: First, the pigs eat what's left of the sugar beet harvest, which otherwise attracts geese and other birds. Second, the pigs, who are carnivores, also hunt the geese. Although they don't move fast enough to catch the poultry, they act as a kind of living scarecrow, notes CNN.

In addition to the pig project, 20 full-time bird control officers are working at the busy airport. They are trying to scare away birds using sound and laser beams, among other things. They are also trying to plant special types of grass at the facility that are not attractive to birds.

Source: TT