ANCHORAGE: In Alaska, it is not uncommon for flora and fauna like polar bears to wander onto an airport's runway, however a lounging seal is far more abnormal.
But that's what employees found on the airport within the country's northernmost city on Monday. A seal estimated to weigh 450 pounds (204 kilograms) was removed from the runway on the airport at Utqiagvik (pronounced (oot-GHAR'-vik) by the use of sled, KTVA reported.
A photograph and video of the bearded seal lounging at the runway within the the city previously referred to as Barrow was shared by Scott Babcock on Facebook.
The state Department of Transportation were given in at the fun by warning pilots of "low sealings" on the airport.
Meadow Bailey, the dept's communications director, said Utqiagvik, an Arctic Ocean coastal group on Alaska's North Slope, skilled heavy storms Monday. Staff found the seal while clearing the runway.
The division's personnel contributors don't seem to be allowed to care for marine mammals, so the seal was removed by North Slope Animal Control.
The employees have noticed birds, caribou, polar bears and musk ox at the runway, but the seal sighting was a primary, Bailey said.
"Wildlife strikes to aircraft pose a significant safety hazard and cost the aviation industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year," Bailey said. "Birds make up over 90 percent of strikes in the US, while mammal strikes are rare."
But that's what employees found on the airport within the country's northernmost city on Monday. A seal estimated to weigh 450 pounds (204 kilograms) was removed from the runway on the airport at Utqiagvik (pronounced (oot-GHAR'-vik) by the use of sled, KTVA reported.
A photograph and video of the bearded seal lounging at the runway within the the city previously referred to as Barrow was shared by Scott Babcock on Facebook.
The state Department of Transportation were given in at the fun by warning pilots of "low sealings" on the airport.
Meadow Bailey, the dept's communications director, said Utqiagvik, an Arctic Ocean coastal group on Alaska's North Slope, skilled heavy storms Monday. Staff found the seal while clearing the runway.
The division's personnel contributors don't seem to be allowed to care for marine mammals, so the seal was removed by North Slope Animal Control.
The employees have noticed birds, caribou, polar bears and musk ox at the runway, but the seal sighting was a primary, Bailey said.
"Wildlife strikes to aircraft pose a significant safety hazard and cost the aviation industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year," Bailey said. "Birds make up over 90 percent of strikes in the US, while mammal strikes are rare."
450-pound seal removed from airport's runway in US
![450-pound seal removed from airport's runway in US]()
Reviewed by Kailash
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October 26, 2017
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