Flocks of birds attracted to a landfill in the Altai region pose a threat to passing airplanes, a local court ruled, ordering district authorities to equip the site with bird-repellent devices.
The district court has also banned a local utility company from using the landfill near Gorno-Altaisk Airport and ordered it to conduct daily cleanups of the site, the Interfax news agency reported Thursday, citing the Barnaul transport prosecutor's office.
Safety violations by the utility company created an "unfavorable ornithological situation that presented a hazard to air flights," the prosecutor's office was quoted as saying.
The court ruled in the prosecutors' favor, ordering the company and district authorities take responsibility for keeping the birds away, Interfax reported.
Gorno-Altaisk was expected to serve 60,000 passengers in 2014, according to projections issued at the start of the year, the Regnum news site reported. The volume marked a two-fold increase from about 31,500 passengers a year earlier, according to the report.
