78 turtles crawling on tarmac close airport

78 turtles crawling on tarmac close airport

NEW YORK — A runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport was shut down briefly Wednesday morning after at least 78 turtles emerged from a nearby bay and crawled onto the tarmac.

Grounds crews eventually rounded up the wayward reptiles and deposited them back into the brackish water farther from airport property but not before the incident disrupted JFK’s flight schedule and contributed to delays that reached nearly 11‚Ñ2 hours.

The invasion began unfolding, slowly at around 8:30 a.m. when an American Eagle flight crew reported seeing three turtles while taxiing out for departure. Before long, a chorus of pilots was radioing the tower to report turtles either on the end of a runway that juts out into the water or approaching on the grass.

The FAA halted flights for about 12 minutes shortly before 9 a.m. while some of the turtles were cleared away, then quit using the runway entirely after getting new reports of “massive numbers” of turtles on the tarmac.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman John Kelly said airport crews gathered up the turtles in about 35 minutes.

He identified the turtles as Diamondback terrapins, a species common to Jamaica Bay, which surrounds the airport. The turtles appeared to be about 8 inches long and weigh 2 to 3 pounds each.

Jets hit turtles a few times each year at JFK, usually in the final days of June or earliest days in July, according to the FAA’s wildlife strike database.

Home searched

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. — A bomb squad searched the smoldering site of a suburban Hartford home for signs of explosives Wednesday, a day after a 13-hour standoff involving an advertising executive who police say kidnapped his ex-wife and called for a priest to give her last rites before setting their house on fire.

Richard Shenkman came out a back door about midnight Tuesday as flames destroyed the South Windsor house he once shared with Nancy Tyler. The fire ignited about an hour after Tyler escaped, a handcuff dangling from one wrist.

Police said they don’t know how the fire began but believe it was set by Shenkman shortly after police fired pepper-spray bullets into the home, police Cmdr. Matthew Reed said. It appeared Shenkman went room to room setting the house ablaze, Reed said.

Shenkman was in stable condition at Hartford Hospital being treated for smoke inhalation, Reed and a hospital spokesman said.

8-foot gator caught

OAKLAND PARK, Fla. — Residents of this suburb north of Miami lassoed an 8-foot alligator to a tree using an extension cord Tuesday night before calling 911 to complain that the reptile had sneaked into their swimming pool, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said.

By the time deputy sheriffs arrived at the River Oaks Apartments about 7 p.m., about 30 people were gathered around the unwanted pool guest, BSO spokesman Mike Jachles said.

No one would admit to tying up the animal, which most likely came from a nearby canal, Jachles said.

Police called a private trapper to remove the alligator, which had been thrashing around. The trapper told police the animal looked like it had been fed by humans.

“It thought it was home,” Jachles said. “This just shows that wild animals are dangerous. Don’t feed them.”

No one was hurt, but children allegedly threw stones at the alligator, he said.

It wasn’t the first time an alligator had crawled onto private property in Florida this summer. In June, one was found in the men’s restroom of a Jacksonville restaurant after a rainstorm.

“We live in the Everglades,” Jachles said. “The alligators were here long before us.”

Mexicans outraged

MEXICO CITY — Mexico reacted to the slaying of an anti-crime activist with outrage Wednesday: Congress called for a minute of silence, television commentators demanded justice and activists pledged to step up their fight against crime despite persistent threats.

Public-safety groups say Benjamin LeBaron was the first anti-crime activist in Mexico to have been murdered in retaliation for his work.

The lower House of Congress held a minute of silence and proposed a resolution condemning Tuesday’s slaying of LeBaron, 32, and neighbor Luis Widmar, 29, by a gang of armed men in military-style camouflage gear. The two were abducted from LeBaron’s house, tossed into a truck and then shot in the head on a nearby road.

Combined dispatches