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New employee will make dogged effort to keep West Virginia Yeager Airport’s runways bird-free

By RICK STEELHAMMER

Charleston Gazette-Mail

Hercules, an 18-month-old border collie, will soon begin patrolling the Yeager airfield to keep runways free of birds and other animals.
(Submitted photo)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In mid-May, Charleston’s Yeager Airport will bring on board a new employee who will work for free while providing a valuable public safety role and be on call 24 hours a day from his living quarters in the airport’s operations office.

It’s a lot of responsibility for an 18-month-old, but Hercules, the airport’s new bird and small animal disperser, is up to the task, said Nick Keller, Yeager’s assistant director.

Hercules, a border collie named after the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport planes operated by the Yeager-based 130th Airlift Wing, was bought on Wednesday for $7,500 by the airport’s governing board. The dog is now completing training in Stanfield, North Carolina, to master a range of verbal and whistle commands and to focus on his duties while working in areas that are often extremely noisy.

Read the entire article: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/kanawha_county/new-employee-will-make-dogged-effort-to-keep-yeager-airport/article_ea85a3b6-a071-5a09-9a37-e2354ecf4b4a.html

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