Although Jet will not run and herd, his presence alone serves as a deterrent to many birds. Once his successor arrives, Jet will retire to the five-acre ranch of one of his handlers, airport operations agent Rebecca Haggie. I m sure Jet would prefer to continue his work at the airport, but my ranch offers the perfect retirement home for a dog of Jet s nature. Haggie, who has experience as a veterinary assistant and an animal keeper at a zoological park, shares the ranch with two dogs, a cat and a horse. While we know he is going to a nice new home, we are all very sad to see one of the hardest-working and most famous airport employees leave.
Bird strikes cause problems for aircraft and airports nationwide.
At Southwest Florida International Airport, nine strikes were recorded in 1997 and 16 in 1998. Jet began work at the airport in February 1999 as part of an experimental program. That year only four bird strikes were reported. There were eight reported in 2000. Jet was trained to respond to whistle and voice commands.