FOX 35 News - by Mike Synan

Daytona Beach International Airport wants to spend $575,000 on relocating wildlife at the airport. Most of the money would come from a federal grant. Part of the money will be spent on relocating alligators and deer, plus scaring away birds. We asked passengers at the airport if they thought this was a good way to spend tax dollars.

"No! That's what makes Florida exciting," said one traveler from New York. "Nah, it's gotta stay."

"You gotta be kidding me?" asked another traveler from Missouri. "It's natural it's part of Florida. That's a waste of money."

A traveler from Ohio raised concerns over safety, "keeping them from, you know, running them over and crashing, and causing blown tires and that. Yeah, I would say it would be worth it."

While it was not very busy at the airport Wednesday or Thursday, even though this is one of Daytona's biggest tourist weeks of the entire year, the airport has a $6.2 million expansion plan. The $575,000 in wildlife mitigation is a part of it. One high-level airport official said they have found alligators on the tarmac in the past, even resting under a passenger plane, and they constantly have to trap deer on property.

Airports have tried many different methods to keep birds away from airplanes. Fortunately, birds have not caused incidents at Daytona International in the past.