Photos: Birds have been badly injured by gas flares at Meadowlands landfills

The flame that burns off methane at the Kingsland Landfill in the Meadowlands is barely visible, so many raptors and other birds fly through it and get singed or killed.

Officials built a a cage about 75 feet tall around the methane flame at the Kingsland Landfill in the Meadowlands in 2017 to prevent birds from flying through the flame and getting singed or killed. They did not do the same for one installed in 2019 at the Keegan Landfill.

Badly burned wing of a red-tailed hawk that got too close to an open gas flare at New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority landfill in the Meadowlands in 2019. The bird will need up to two years before it can be released in the wild.

Badly burned red-tailed hawk that got too close to an open gas flare at New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority landfill in the Meadowlands in 2019. The bird will need up to two years before it can be released in the wild.

A red-tailed hawk with tail feather burned after flying through invisible flame at Kingsland Landfill in the Meadowlands in 2016 or 2017.
Chris Takacs
Caption Override

Singed feathers from a red-tailed hawk found at Kingsland Landfill in the Meadowlands

A plane passes behind the pipe that flares off methane in an invisible flame at the Kingsland Landfill in Lyndhurst. The flame has singed and killed birds that fly through.

Kestrel tail feathers singed at the Kingsland Landfill.

Badly burned red-tailed hawk that got too close to an open gas flare at New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority landfill in the Meadowlands in 2019. The bird will need up to two years before it can be released in the wild.

Badly burned red-tailed hawk that got too close to an open gas flare at New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority landfill in the Meadowlands in 2019. The bird will need up to two years before it can be released in the wild.