Wanted: Falcons, Handlers For Mission in Afghanistan

[douglas9]

The U.S. Air Force, a high-tech wonder of precision missiles and pilotless surveillance drones, is looking for a few good falcons.

Live falcons, that is, ones with feathers and talons, the kind that hunt mice and small birds.

U.S. aircraft at the sprawling Bagram air base in Afghanistan are coming under increasing attack -- not from al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters but from "many small songbirds, pigeons, Magpies, Hawks and Black Kites," according to a bid request for a "bird control services" contract issued by the Army last month.

Previous attempts at controlling the birds have failed. Personnel have shot "bangers and screamers" at the birds -- rockets that can travel hundreds of yards as they give off a siren-like noise, followed by a loud bang. Shotguns have been tried, too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110202535_pf.html