Three jackals caught from Indore airport premises

Indore: Three jackals have been captured in last two days from the premises of Ahilya Devi Holkar airport here, a Forest department official said today.

The latest instances of intrusion by wild animals have raised a serious concern over safety of flights as the airport management seems to have failed to plug the holes in the boundary wall through which wild animals enter the premises.

“We have trapped three jackals in cages from the premises of the airport in last two days. These jackals have been released in the wild,” Forest Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) RN Saxena said.

He said cages have been put up at various places on the premises to trap the animals as their movement might cause plane accidents.

Saxena said Forest department used to install cages earlier to catch the wild animals.

“We have trained airport staffers to catch wild animals that stray onto airport premises,” he said, adding that cages are now being procured by airport management.

The officer said that areas close to airport house butcheries and animals like jackals come there in search of food and sometimes stray onto airport campus from holes in boundary wall.

“We have already asked the airport management to plug these holes in the boundary wall to block the entry of wild animals on its premises,” Saxena said.

Repeated attempts to contact Airport Director, Manoj Chourasia for his reaction failed to fructify.

In two-three incidents in past, jackals had strayed onto runway but alert pilots had managed to avert any tragedy.

The area around the airport has thicket and some wild animals have walked into the cages in the past as well.