The security officials here on Thursday trapped a jackal that had been playing hide and seek with airport security for the past couple of days.
'The animal was trapped around 9.30 in the morning after it had been spotted walking near the runway.
This is the second time that airport officials captured a beast from the airside, which is stipulated to be an animal-free zone. It was later handed over to the forest department.
Official sources remarked that foxes could jeopardise passenger safety. “When an aircraft and an animal the size of a fox meet, there is potential for trouble,” said a senior airport official.
Earlier in May 2011, the airport operator had a female jackal trapped in one of the cages set up near the tarmac here.
CIAL has deployed personnel on both sides of the runway, who routinely move around the compound on a vehicle during times of high-bird activity use noise-emitting guns to chase away birds including cranes, hawks, crows, pigeons are regularly chased and scared away as part of ensuring flight security.
In addition, it has also placed portable gas-operated noise emitting equipments and crackers inside the area to scare the animals straying on to the runway.
The swamp enclosed within the airport compound provides an ideal habitat for animals.
The easy availability of food and conducive habitats attract animals like jackals to the area while the presence of tall grass gives a comfortable cover for the animals.
“We have an airport environmental committee in place to oversee the measures to control the presence of animals without killing them,” said A.C.K. Nair, the airport director.
The entire campus has been safeguarded with a compound wall, on top of which concertina coil has been laid. Besides, all the entry gates and drainage have been grilled to prevent the entry of animals, the official added.
Though the presence of animals posed serious a threat to the aircraft, killing of such animals is an offence punishable under the Wild Life Protection Act 1972.
