Runway cleared of fish, alligator and snakes - myfoxorlando.com

20 August 2008
MELBOURNE, Fla. As if drenching rains, flooding and unrelenting wind weren't enough, Tropical Storm Fay threw a different challenge at Melbourne International Airport staff early Wednesday.

A routine check turned up some unexpected visitors that had washed onto the active runway - two gopher tortoises, four walking catfish, an alligator and a blue indigo snake.

"We thought one of the tortoises was the top of one of the taxiway lights - then it started to move," said Cliff Graham, the airports operations manager.

The unexpected wildlife encounter provided much-needed comic relief for the airport staff. "We had to get the four walking catfish off the runway before Delta could land, Graham said. "We all got soaked, but it was important to clear the runway to ensure passenger safety and to get the animals out of harms way, airport executive director, Richard Ennis added.

Walking catfish use their pectoral fins to get around on land and can breathe out of water as long as they stay moist, which wasn't a problem Wednesday morning with drenching rains which poured over most of Brevard County.

The tortoises were moved to the airport's designated gopher tortoise relocation area, the walking catfish and snake were tossed back into a nearby pond. The gator scampered back into a drainage ditch, Ennis said.