Hundreds of vultures have swarmed the airport of the biggest city in Peru’s Amazon jungle, putting planes at risk and threatening to cut off the city of more than 400,000 people from the rest of the country.
The birds already have forced the airport in Iquitos — a popular tourist destination that can only be reached from the capital Lima by air — to shut down eight hours a day, said Aurelio Crovetto, head of Peru’s state-run airport authority.
“One of these birds only has to bump into a plane and the effect could be devastating,” he said. “If one gets into an engine, it will destroy it, the motor will stop and the plane will come down.”
The vultures became a problem when migration swelled Iquitos’ population and extra trash pushed the edge of a garbage dump, which attract the birds, closer to the airport…The vultures have collided with planes at least 19 times since 2002, according to the airport authority.
The airport authority blames local officials, whom they say have ignored nearly a decade of complaints about the dump. But the city’s mayor says airport operators should be better equipped to scare away the vultures.
Someone remind me not to fly into Iquitos.
They’re obviously working with Al Queda.
I bet the birds are muslim too.
Call me superstitious, but if I saw flocks of vultures around an airport I wouldn’t be thrilled to fly that day.
Not a good sign when you arrive at the airport and see vultures circling!
That bird looks disgusted.. AND angry. Take him in for questioning.
I just returned from Iquitos. Lovely city right on the Amazon River. The problem is overblown. The vultures only cause problems in the morning hours. Afternoon flight have no problems.