Pound Dog Saving Planes From Birds

[Baby Dragon]

Pound dog saving planes from birds

Colin Gilmore | 23rd July 2011

Martin Ziviani and Joe bond after another job well done.

Joe is not so much frightened of birds as driven to ensure they are clear of the Gold Coast Airport, where they can pose significant risks to operations.

A Jetstar aircraft struck a bird on landing at the airport on July 14 and, while the plane was undamaged, these rare incidents are precisely what Joe and handler Martin Ziviani underwent almost 12 months of extensive training to prevent.

Mr Ziviani said Joe was rescued from the pound and not suitable as a family pet, which made him more useful as a working dog.

“But he's a really personable dog to be around,” he said.

“I've been at the airport for five years, utilising all sorts of bird strike prevention techniques, and Joe's the latest tool.”

He said Joe was trained to target birds posing a threat, then once the threat was negated, return to his handler for a reward in the form of play.

“He's not a threat to birds and he's only trained to disperse them as, while occasionally there may be other animals, they'd only be a distraction.”

Bird-strike management experts Avisure's managing director Phil Shaw said Joe was purpose-trained and “the first one in Australia”.

Gold Coast Airport operations and standards general manager Rob Porter said the safety of passengers and crew was of “paramount importance”.

http://www.mydailynews.com.au/story/2011/07/23/pound-dog-saving-planes-from-birds/

Edited July 23, 2011 by Baby Dragon

[KitKat]

How cool!

[sandgrubber]

I'd say he's saving birds from planes as much as the other way around!

Great story.