A new study has found that over 300 hares have been killed by planes at Dublin Airport.
University College Cork found that 320 hares at Dublin Airport have been killed since the 1990s. As reported by Buzz.ie, the animals were watched using motion-activated camera traps.
The researchers discovered that the hares were most in danger around midnight. While there are fewer flights at this time, the hares are extremely active.
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The number of hare deaths has risen over recent years, with an increase of 14 per cent each year. Airport authorities had previously relocated hares from Dublin to Kildare as their corpses can also attract far larger animals to the runway.
UCC researchers believe their findings can be used in airports around the world as wildlife-aircraft collisions carry a large ecological and financial burden. There has only been one rabbit strike at airport but a hedgehog being struck a few years ago caused chaos, as its corpse attracted gulls to the runway.
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