Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport
Abstract Collisions between wildlife and aircraft are a serious and growing threat to aviation safety. Understanding the frequency of these collisions, the identity of species involved, and the potential damage that can be inflicted on to aircraft aid mitigation efforts by airfield managers. A recor...
Published in: | European Journal of Wildlife Research |
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y 2023-05-15T17:07:48+02:00 Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport Ball, Samantha Butler, Fidelma Caravaggi, Anthony Coughlan, Neil E. Keogh, Gerry O’Callaghan, Michael J. A. Whelan, Ricky Kelly, Thomas C. Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology Dublin Airport Authority University College Cork 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY European Journal of Wildlife Research volume 67, issue 5 ISSN 1612-4642 1439-0574 Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y 2022-01-04T07:14:59Z Abstract Collisions between wildlife and aircraft are a serious and growing threat to aviation safety. Understanding the frequency of these collisions, the identity of species involved, and the potential damage that can be inflicted on to aircraft aid mitigation efforts by airfield managers. A record of all animal carcasses recovered from Dublin International Airport, Ireland’s largest civil aviation airport, has been maintained since 1990 where strikes with the endemic Irish hare ( Lepus timidus hibernicus ), a protected subspecies of mountain hare, are of particular concern despite substantial management efforts from the airfield authority. The first strike event with a hare was recorded in 1997, and strike events have substantially increased since then, with a sharp increase recorded in 2011. Over a 30-year period, a total of 320 strike events with the Irish hare have been recorded at the airfield. To date, no strike event with a hare has resulted in damage to an aircraft. However, carcasses can present as a major attraction to avian scavenger species in addition to posing as a risk of causing foreign object damage in the event of an undetected carcass. Hare strikes are discussed in the context of the rate of civil aircraft movements, possible direct and indirect damage to aircraft, and airfield wildlife hazard management. Here, we demonstrate that not only are strike events increasing by 14% on an annual basis, but that the kinetic energy of such an event has the potential to cause significant damage to an aircraft. Article in Journal/Newspaper Lepus timidus mountain hare Springer Nature (via Crossref) European Journal of Wildlife Research 67 5 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Ball, Samantha Butler, Fidelma Caravaggi, Anthony Coughlan, Neil E. Keogh, Gerry O’Callaghan, Michael J. A. Whelan, Ricky Kelly, Thomas C. Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport |
topic_facet |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Collisions between wildlife and aircraft are a serious and growing threat to aviation safety. Understanding the frequency of these collisions, the identity of species involved, and the potential damage that can be inflicted on to aircraft aid mitigation efforts by airfield managers. A record of all animal carcasses recovered from Dublin International Airport, Ireland’s largest civil aviation airport, has been maintained since 1990 where strikes with the endemic Irish hare ( Lepus timidus hibernicus ), a protected subspecies of mountain hare, are of particular concern despite substantial management efforts from the airfield authority. The first strike event with a hare was recorded in 1997, and strike events have substantially increased since then, with a sharp increase recorded in 2011. Over a 30-year period, a total of 320 strike events with the Irish hare have been recorded at the airfield. To date, no strike event with a hare has resulted in damage to an aircraft. However, carcasses can present as a major attraction to avian scavenger species in addition to posing as a risk of causing foreign object damage in the event of an undetected carcass. Hare strikes are discussed in the context of the rate of civil aircraft movements, possible direct and indirect damage to aircraft, and airfield wildlife hazard management. Here, we demonstrate that not only are strike events increasing by 14% on an annual basis, but that the kinetic energy of such an event has the potential to cause significant damage to an aircraft. |
author2 |
Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology Dublin Airport Authority University College Cork |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ball, Samantha Butler, Fidelma Caravaggi, Anthony Coughlan, Neil E. Keogh, Gerry O’Callaghan, Michael J. A. Whelan, Ricky Kelly, Thomas C. |
author_facet |
Ball, Samantha Butler, Fidelma Caravaggi, Anthony Coughlan, Neil E. Keogh, Gerry O’Callaghan, Michael J. A. Whelan, Ricky Kelly, Thomas C. |
author_sort |
Ball, Samantha |
title |
Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport |
title_short |
Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport |
title_full |
Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport |
title_fullStr |
Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at Ireland’s largest civil airport |
title_sort |
hares in the long grass: increased aircraft related mortality of the irish hare (lepus timidus hibernicus) over a 30-year period at ireland’s largest civil airport |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y/fulltext.html |
genre |
Lepus timidus mountain hare |
genre_facet |
Lepus timidus mountain hare |
op_source |
European Journal of Wildlife Research volume 67, issue 5 ISSN 1612-4642 1439-0574 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01517-y |
container_title |
European Journal of Wildlife Research |
container_volume |
67 |
container_issue |
5 |
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1766063302136299520 |