SITKA — Officials have seen a spike in the number of dead deer washing up on the runway of Sitka's airport during this year's hunting season.
U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist Heather Bauscher removes wildlife that could interfere with air traffic from the runway, which is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. She said she has seen one to three deer each week on the runway since the subsistence hunting season opened Nov. 1, the Alaska Public Radio Network reported.
"There's a lot of steps between somebody pitching some animal remains overboard or leaving them on the beach and planes crashing," Bauscher said, "but it can happen."
Bauscher said the problem is that the deer carcasses are attracting more birds, which get in the way of planes.
"If a bird strikes a plane, chances are it could severely damage the turbine to the point of completely destroying that engine," Bauscher said.
This year, Bauscher said she has already counted 80 species of birds near Sitka's runway.
Phil Mooney, area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, has urged hunters to properly dispose of their animal carcasses.
"Don't put it on the roadside. Don't throw it in the water particularly. If you can put it in your garbage can that's great," Mooney said.
Mooney said he understands that some residents may want to return the wildlife carcasses back to nature, but that it is too risky of a move in a city of 9,000 people and over half a dozen daily flights.
"People think, 'Okay, this one deer carcass isn't going to hurt anything, or these two deer carcasses.' But take that times how many hunters we've got out here and a good deer year and it gets to be a problem," Mooney said.