On June 30, 2011, major networks were awash with news of flight disruption at the JF Kennedy Airport in New York, United States of America. The culprits were turtles crossing the runway on a mating spree.  In 2003, in Botswana, a light aircraft struck a Giraffe. In Nigeria, in 2005, an Air France airplane ran into a herd of cows at the runway. Also, in the United States, a US Airways Airbus A320 aircraft was forced to land on the Hudson River after losing two engines as the airplane struck birds on take-off. Worldwide, it is projected that over 400 lives have been lost since 1960 due to bird strike. In a presentation by the Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun, on a worldwide basis, USD 1.2 billion loss is sustained yearly by the industry due to bird strikes.

With such huge financial and safety costs relating to serious wildlife events, it was, therefore, not a surprise that the United States Federal Aviation Agency, the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority partnered to present a Workshop on Wildlife Hazard to draw attention to the menace of wildlife encroachment and interference with safe air transport operation, and update key players in the wildlife control sector in Africa on modalities for preventing and controlling wildlife in the vicinity of the airport, thus preventing interference with flight operations with the utmost consideration for the environment and preservation of animal species. Wildlife experts should be able to engage and sensitize conservationists on the hazards posed to human life and aviation by certain wildlife and converse on a mutual process to mitigate or remove them.

The West African Wildlife Workshop, though this should have been more aptly called African Wildlife Hazards Workshop, had delegates drawn from several African countries covering such sectors as airports management, airlines and airspace management and the media. Ms. Moira Keane of the FAA praised the effort of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in providing key support that birthed the workshop after years in the coolers. Speaking on the relevance of the course regarding wildlife-induced losses, the Director General of the NCAA, Harold Demuren, says "First is aviation safety and the second is the huge cost to the airlines. We must remember that our airlines are working hard to reduce operational cost and damage occasioned by bird strikes and the potential implication for coverage and insurance premiums if our skies and airports are considered particularly prone to bird strikes need special attention."

According to the course facilitators, Dr. Russ DeFusco and Capt. Paul Eschenfelder, both of Embry Riddle University, any aircraft can suffer bird strike, whether jet engine or turboprops. Furthermore, for any proper control or mitigation of wildlife, especially birds at the airport, a good knowledge of bird biology is very critical. Additionally, there is need to collaborate and create awareness on wildlife challenges and share mitigation strategies with key stakeholders in the aviation community. Pilots must be able to show more situational awareness by reporting any serious bird or widelife activity during the take-off and landing phases of operating the aircraft, even if the airplane had no bird strike incident at the material time. Air Traffic men on control towers who have better views of the airport at anytime should be able to report to wildlife control officers on the preponderance of birds or other wildlife activity within the airport. The community around the airport would be dissuaded through sensitization from those practices that encourage the assemblage of wildlife such as refuse dumps. In the construction of airports, there should also be a balance struck between architectural aesthetics and need to ensure airport buildings do not conduce to bird mating, breeding or nesting. Wildlife Hazard assessment commences when multiple wildlife strikes have been observed, when substantial damage has been done, and/or when there has been engine ingestion of birds or the preponderance of wildlife capable of precipitating above conditions.

The Wild life Hazard Management which follows consists in a multi-layer of activities including the analysis of events, identification of wildlife species, migration cum seasonal trends of the birds, what brings them to the airports and a description of the hazards and recommendations. Some of the strategies to be adopted to control wildlife include flight schedule modification, habitation modification and exclusion, use of repellents and attractive techniques and wildlife removal in extreme circumstances.

In all, the workshop underscored the need for a collaborative approach in dealing with wildlife hazards as ultimately the world would be a better place for aviation and wildlife, if such synergies are created. And as the participants go to their various countries to implement what they have learnt and to train their colleagues, the air transport industry in Africa can only hope for better times with wildlife controls.