Source : Daily Express, Sabah, 30 Nov '04
By : Daily Express
  

The shooting of these birds, of the Brahminy Kite species, weighing 0.5-2 kg each, was prompted by the request of Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB) in Tawau.

The management feared that the eagles could jeopardise the safety of the aircraft and passengers landing at or taking off from the Tawau airport.

According to the Wildlife Department's statistics, 60 birds were shot in 2003 (20 in March), 31 in September and nine in November), while 37 were killed in August.

It was noted that the eagles often converge at the airport area between 6am and 8.45am to hunt for rodents and reptiles said to be aplenty there, that could disrupt the first daily flight to Kota Kinabalu.

The department's Tawau Senior Assistant Francis Kamuntah, said no operation is carried out in the afternoon, as the birds could not stand the heat from the runway.

The dead eagles were either buried or burned to prevent the spread of diseases. Tawau MAB Manager Awang Mail said the presence of the eagles in the area were initially noted in 2001.

"The situation reached a critical level in 2003, thereby prompting us to seek the assistance of the Wildlife Department.

He however assured that the presence of a large number of swallows in the area should be no cause for concern, as most of them would converge only at the terminal building.

These birds, numbering some 500, could be a nuisance as their continuous noise could disrupt telephone calls and public address, thereby forcing the MAB management to purchase 10 tubes of "bird repellents" at RM250 each to rid the terminal of the menace. Recently, a flight had to aborted after an eagle got sucked into a Boeing 737 engine.

Every morning there is a flight from Kota Kinabalu arriving at 6.40am while the first flight from here takes off at 7.40am.

On the reason for the big number of birds in the area, Awang said this was possibly due to the airport being located close to an oil palm estate and a small jungle.

Also called the Red Backed Sea Eagle the Brahminy may be found in coastal areas from northern Australia throughout New Guinea Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and up to Indian and southern China.