MIDLAND, Texas — When people think of wild animals like coyotes or javelinas, they normally think of them out in the desert searching for food and not searching for ways to affect a person's flight. "Affecting a person's flight" is something the animals have been doing lately, and the City of Midland is trying to prevent.
Twelve miles of fencing is in need of an upgrade at the Midland International Air & Space Port because wildlife animals in the Permian Basin keep getting on the runways.
“We've had problems with our current six-foot fence with animals going underneath or climbing over and this will put in an 8-foot fence with three strands of barbed wire as well as a 24-inch concrete barrier below the fence, so it should stop animals from digging in, as well as climbing over,” said Justine Ruff, director of airports for the City of Midland.
However, this will be changing thanks to the money the airport has access to from grant funds.
Coyotes and javelinas are just some of the creatures that have been spotted on the flight line lately.
“They're animals, they don't quite understand our technology or airplanes and things like that," said Michael Nickell, museum scientist at the Sibley Nature Center in Midland. "They're just trying to either find a food source or water source or just pass from point A to point B.”
If an airplane were to run over an animal, it could have serious consequences for the flight.
“There's a potential of damage to landing gear that you wouldn't know until you were coming into land, so that could be worrisome,” said Ruff.
Ruff said the pilots wouldn’t be able to tell if the gear is locked or if it’d be safe for them to even land.
Thankfully, if an animal is ever seen on the runway, the airport has procedures to drive it away from the area. That ultimately keeps the wildlife and travelers safe.