The airport
of popular Peruvian tourist destination Iquitos is under seige - by Vultures!
)
Hundreds of
vultures have taken over the airport of Iquitos, the biggest city in the Amazon
jungle, threatening to cut off more than 400,000 people from the rest of the
country (at least by air): the city on the banks of the great river can't be
reached from the largest part of the country by road. The birds have already
forced the airport to shut down eight hours a day.
The vultures became a problem when
migration swelled Iquitos' population, and a rubbish dump near the airport grew
with it. The birds have crashed into planes at least 19 times since 2002,
according to the airport authority; they're big enough to cause damage to the
planes as well as themselves, says Aurelio Crovetto, head of Peru's 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
authority blames local officials, who have ignored nearly a decade of
complaints about the dump. The city's mayor counters that airport operators
should be better equipped to scare away the vultures.
Peru's commerce and tourism minister
called the situation "surreal" and promised action.
