Amsterdam Schiphol airport employs a herd of twenty pigs to scavenge in the fields between runways in order to prevent geese from colliding with jet engines.

A closer look

Amsterdam Schiphol airport employs a herd of twenty pigs to scavenge in the fields between runways in order to prevent geese from colliding with jet engines. The pigs are specifically placed in recently harvested sugar beet fields, where they eat the leftover crop residue that would normally attract massive flocks of heavy, dangerous birds. This incredibly low-tech agricultural solution protects multimillion-dollar aircraft from catastrophic engine failures caused by bird strikes. It is hilariously humbling to realize that the pinnacle of modern aviation safety, relying on cutting-edge radar and satellite technology, ultimately depends on a bunch of hungry farm animals wandering around in the mud. As you sit in your premium economy seat worrying about turbulence and weather patterns, your actual safety is being actively secured by a squad of tactical swine eating garbage in a Dutch field