By Jason Hall
STAFF WRITER

Jet's is a rags-to-riches story.

 At one point in his two-year life, the black-and-white border collie was a homeless stray. But now he's the dog of the moment, herding birds in a unique program at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. He even has his own business card and e-mail address.

 Jet is the first dog in the nation to be employed in a bird hazard reduction program at a commercial airport. He was specifically trained for that purpose after being brought as a homeless pooch to Border Collie Rescue, a non-profit dog-training outfit in Melrose.

 What's more, Jet seems to be getting the job done. Airport operations agents say there has been a big drop in the number of birds in the ponds and marshes that dot the airport landscape since Jet began working in February.

 "You're putting yourself out of business," operations agent Gil Forgays told Jet on Monday morning, as the dog finished chasing a handful of birds away from a small marsh.

 The airport is conducting a formal study to see just how effective Jet has been, but here's one telling statistic: Last year, the airport reported 13 instances of bird strikes interfering with aircraft. So far this year, there have been none.

 Airport managers heard about Border Collie Rescue's program at a conference for BirdStrike, an organization dedicated to finding ways to prevent bird-related accidents at airports. According to figures provided by the airport, birds collide with planes about 2,500 times a year nationally, causing $48 million in damage since 1991.

 Florida is third in the nation in bird strikes reported, thanks mainly to the stormwater retention ponds that many airports have to maintain for pollution control. Birds love to stay in those ponds, and often get in the way of aircraft taking off and landing.

 Jet is not one of the traditional approaches to bird control, which include pyrotechnics -- fireworks blasted from a shotgun -- and sirens. Forgays admitted he wasn't convinced when his bosses mentioned the possibility of a dog performing that function.

 "I was kind of skeptical at first," he said. "But then I saw Dr. Nick Carter perform a demonstration with the dogs, and that changed my mind as to what I thought was feasible." Carter is director of Border Collie Rescue.

 It cost about $6,600 to buy and train Jet, and there's also the cost of feeding him and housing him in a kennel with the airport's drug-sniffing dogs. Forgays said that reducing bird strikes is worth far more than Jet's cost.

 "If you can prevent just one of those incidents, it's worth much more than $6,600," he said.

 Border collies are intelligent and have an inherent tendency to herd, making them perfect for this type of work, Forgays said. Jet not only scares the birds away, but he also can push them in a specific direction away from the runway.

 He's more effective than the traditional noise-making methods, Forgays said, because birds can become desensitized to the fireworks or sirens. The birds perceive Jet as a stealth predator and rarely return after an encounter with him.

Jet has had one small break in his stint as chief bird watcher. Shortly after arriving in Fort Myers, he was sent back to Border Collie Rescue for alligator training to make sure his instincts didn't lead him to try to herd the reptiles.

 Jet's fame has extended far beyond the small cadre of handlers who take him out every day to rid the airport of birds. Since he was purchased and started work in February, television news crews and media organizations from all over the United States and beyond have come to watch Jet work and to report on his progress.

 "We've been awfully busy," admits Laska Ryan, the airport's public relations manager.

 NBC's "Today Show," "CBS Evening News," USA Today, People magazine and the Wall Street Journal have all reported on Jet's exploits, causing other airports to take notice as well. Ryan said several airports and air force bases have called or come to watch Jet make his rounds. Officials at Border Collie Rescue said they soon will supply a dog to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del.

 Fred Piccolo, executive director of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, said his staff has watched Jet and is considering adding a border collie to the traditional pyrotechnics and noise techniques in use.

 Dogs aren't the only unusual method being tried to manage wildlife around an airport. The Charlotte County Airport can't afford to buy a dog like Jet, but is trying scientific methods to solve the problem, director Fred Watts said.

 Watts said the airport is participating in studies on the storm water drainage systems, focusing on the premise that if you remove the habitat, the birds will leave.

 Retention ponds are required to keep polluted water that flows off the runways from seeping into the water table. But Watts hopes that experiments being done at the airport will show that the runoff is not that polluted after all.

 "We try to reduce those things that become an attractant without hurting the environment," he said. "What we're saying is, 'There's not pollution, so why bother?' "