{"id":2931,"date":"2025-05-27T22:06:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T05:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/?p=2931"},"modified":"2025-07-31T08:31:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T15:31:50","slug":"meet-hercules-and-ned-the-border-collies-keeping-a-west-virginia-airport-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/meet-hercules-and-ned-the-border-collies-keeping-a-west-virginia-airport-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Hercules and Ned: The Border Collies Keeping a West Virginia Airport Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>May 27, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3e8ea5846affeeb88960d21e745c97c5\">Two very special employees are patrolling the runways at West Virginia International Yeager Airport\u2014and they\u2019re covered in fur. Hercules and Ned, a pair of border collies, are part of the airport\u2019s Wildlife Hazard Management program, where their job is to chase away birds and other animals that could pose a danger to aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Airports often struggle with wildlife on or near runways, which can lead to dangerous bird strikes or collisions. That\u2019s where Hercules and Ned come in. Trained specifically for this task, the energetic border collies use their herding instincts to safely move animals off airport property without harming them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re very effective and very safe,\u201d said airport spokesperson Paige Withrow. \u201cThe wildlife sees them as predators, so they naturally clear the area when they\u2019re on patrol.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dogs aren\u2019t just out there alone. Each has a dedicated handler who works with them daily, ensuring they stay focused and well-cared-for. The airport also uses technology and other methods to manage wildlife, but Hercules and Ned bring a unique, eco-friendly solution to the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This four-legged team has become a beloved part of the airport\u2019s operations\u2014and a bit of a local attraction. Travelers often spot the dogs in their bright safety vests, riding in special airport vehicles, or trotting along the runways, hard at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7e1ce806897067891e96ed5cb55af793\">\u201cIt\u2019s a win-win,\u201d said Withrow. \u201cThe dogs love the job, the passengers love seeing them, and our runways stay safer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Meet Hercules and Ned, the border collies fending off wildlife at a West Virginia airport\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aLMAravoO3Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-2571651847880215\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\n<!-- banner ad -->\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2571651847880215\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"7178535257\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Disclaimer:<\/strong>&nbsp;This blog post is for edutainment purposes only and may not be entirely accurate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 27, 2025 Two very special employees are patrolling the runways at West Virginia International Yeager Airport\u2014and they\u2019re covered in fur. Hercules and Ned, a pair of border collies, are&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,32],"tags":[146,37,139,18],"class_list":["post-2931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-news","category-animal-videos","tag-animal-news","tag-dogs","tag-domestic-animals","tag-videos"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Meet-Hercules-and-Ned-the-border-collies-fending-off-wildlife-1748119345.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2933,"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931\/revisions\/2933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalpages.com\/animals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}