Dead deer on runway, AAI asleep

Nagpur: A barking deer is tough to spot even in the forest given its rarity and quickness. But a full-grown female barking deer pregnant with two fawns was found dead on the runway of Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport on Sunday night.
This is the second such incident in little over two months giving a lie to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials' claim that they have made the runway safe from stray animals.
Earlier, another barking deer, with one unborn fawn, was crushed under the wheels of an aircraft on June 7. This shows that the airport continues to be a breeding area for the barking deer.
Airport sources claimed that the barking deer might have been hit by an aircraft during take-off or landing late in the night.
However, S N Borkar, airport director, denied that the deer died due to a plane hit. He told TOI, "It is true that a barking deer was found dead on the runway but I think it was not hit by an aircraft. Any pilot would have reported the matter, but no pilot reported the matter."
However, sources said that intrusion of animals on the runway of Nagpur airport is not new.
26/08/08 Sachin Dravekar & Vijay Pinjarkar/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Aug 2008, Safety Aug 2008