Buzzards killing mature cows

[BFE]

The problem is that poison is non discriminatory.
Guys around here used to do that to control coyotes back when everyone raised hogs outside. It worked. They killed coyotes and foxes and neighbor's dogs and crows and raccoons and an other animal that chewed on the carcass or licked around the bait location.

Four cattle panels would keep most dogs out.

 

[Warren Allison]

I have legally and lawfully never shot a Mexican vulture, any and all of them found shot and killed on properties we have owned, leased or worked on were shot by third parties and deposited there by strangers.

There's about 3 I'd like to go down there and shoot.

 

[Lucky_P]

The India deal was from vultures eating carcasses of cattle & buffalo that had been administered diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug... kinda like many folks on this board (and others I've visited) seem to advocate using Banamine (flunixin) on their animals like it was 'magic water'. It was not a purposeful 'poisoning', but an accidental lethal event. To my knowledge, flunixin does not cause death of our buzzards... but I don't know that anyone has purposely fed meat from Banamine-treated animals to captive buzzards.

I've been involved, peripherally, in cases where people 'spiked' deer carcasses with Furadan (carbofuran) insecticide... ostensibly to kill coyotes... but when someone stumbles upon that carcass with multiple dead animals around it - including hawks & eagles - the Feds get pretty upset, and the fines/jail time are nothing to sneeze at. Even if it didn't kill 'protected' species, injecting licensed pesticides like Furadan or Golden Malrin into a carcass can get you in trouble - if you get caught - for improper use of a pesticide &/or environmental contamination.

Back to the original post... I wasn't there, I didn't see them, and I'm not throwing shade on the OP... but based on the time of year (late Feb) I'm suspicious that these adult cows may have been down or dead from grass tetany (hypomagnesemia) or... and this is common in KY... malnutrition (I've seen that old saw, "February breaks 'em, March takes 'em" proven out far too many times) . Once they're on the ground and unable to escape or fight, they're at risk, regardless of predator/scavenger species. I just cannot imagine black buzzards being able to kill a live, healthy, ambulatory adult cow.

 

[jedsdad]

LOL. No one said buzzards don't EAT cows. That is what they do..eat dead animals. But no buzzard has ever KILLED a c ow. They can;t. Thjey aren;t built to. It isa impossible.

I'm sorry for your thought process but I witnessed it

 

[Lucky_P]

A downer cow... yes, they can finish them off. A healthy cow on her feet... I'm skeptical.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

LOL. No one said buzzards don't EAT cows. That is what they do..eat dead animals. But no buzzard has ever KILLED a c ow. They can;t. Thjey aren;t built to. It isa impossible.

A dog can kill a sheep without ever touching it.

 

[UDF]

Many years back the Black Buzzards had done that to many farms in VA..
The Turkey buzzards not so much...

What a terrible way to go..

 

[Ky hills]

Dogs can and will run cattle sheep and goats. They can do a lot of damage for sure, they can kill and maim a lot of animals over the course of a night or whenever they get in with them.
I'm like @Lucky_P I'm skeptical of buzzards killing cows that are up and moving around. Downed cows that couldn't get away is a different story.
I've seen several instances of large numbers of buzzards on the ground encircled around a cow with a new born calf. The cows try to protect their calf but eventually tire out if help doesn't come.

 

[gman4691]

I have legally and lawfully never shot a Mexican vulture, any and all of them found shot and killed on properties we have owned, leased or worked on were shot by third parties and deposited there by strangers.

maybe aliens(?)

 

[farmerjan]

The black Mexican buzzards are not just carrion eaters... they WILL and DO KILL anything that they can manage... newborns, weak animals, anything they can get ahold of.
AND buzzards also have the ability to smell which birds do not have in general.... and it has been studied that the Black Mexican ones have a well developed sense of smell... more so than the turkey buzzards which, as a rule, strictly are carrion eaters.

 

[50/50Farms]

The black Mexican buzzards are not just carrion eaters... they WILL and DO KILL anything that they can manage... newborns, weak animals, anything they can get ahold of.
AND buzzards also have the ability to smell which birds do not have in general.... and it has been studied that the Black Mexican ones have a well developed sense of smell... more so than the turkey buzzards which, as a rule, strictly are carrion eaters.

I thought the black Mexican buzzards were primarily sight hunters.

"The black vulture locates food either by sight or by following New World vultures of the genus Cathartes to carcasses.[54] These vultures—the turkey vulture, the lesser yellow-headed vulture, and the greater yellow-headed vulture—forage by detecting the scent of ethyl mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay in dead animals.[55] Their heightened ability to detect odors allows them to search for carrion below the forest canopy.[49] The black vulture is aggressive when feeding, and may chase the slightly larger turkey vulture from carcasses.[50]"

 

[farmerjan]

I thought the black Mexican buzzards were primarily sight hunters.

They may do initial hunting/cruising by sight... but they have a developed olfactory sense and I have read that they also "hunt" by sense of smell. And they also "hunt in packs" so to speak... much more so than most any other bird of prey.

 

[50/50Farms]

They may do initial hunting/cruising by sight... but they have a developed olfactory sense and I have read that they also "hunt" by sense of smell. And they also "hunt in packs" so to speak... much more so than most any other bird of prey.

The scientific concensus that I'm seeing is that they're sight hunters, which would make sense given their "país de origen"

 

[Ebenezer]

The black Mexican buzzards are not just carrion eaters... they WILL and DO KILL anything that they can manage... newborns, weak animals, anything they can get ahold of.
AND buzzards also have the ability to smell which birds do not have in general.... and it has been studied that the Black Mexican ones have a well developed sense of smell... more so than the turkey buzzards which, as a rule, strictly are carrion eaters.

Opposite: the turkey buzzards can smell and not the black buzzards.

 

[Warren Allison]

And just how is it that y'all ( who do) think that they can kill an animal? Birds of prey...eagles, hawks, owls, etc.....kill with their talons. No species of vulture has talons with this ability. You could kill an elephant with no weapon ....just your bare ,,easier than a vulture can kill an animal. They eat dead animals, and yes, maybe sometimes dead animal have involuntary muscle actions, and you may see them eating a dead animal exhibiting this. And sometimes when an animal is within moments of death a vulture may start eating on it, mostly an eye. But that doesn't kill the animal. It would not have lived any longer if there was no vulture around.

 

[Ky hills]

Turkey vultures are scavengers and eat carrion. The black vultures are opportunistic and predatory they will absolutely kill young calves and not inconceivable that they could kill a larger animal in a compromised condition.
I have seen 20-40+ surrounding a calf, both here and in other peoples pastures.
The first time I saw it, many years ago, I was naive and thought oh they are just after the afterbirth, and went on to wherever I was going. The calf was up and the cow was agitated, thought it was just her being protective and it was but I didn't have enough sense to that the threat was real at the time. Never saw that calf again.
Many times since have found the same scene and ran them away. With those numbers they can easily surround and overtake a calf. They would do the same to downed cow they could not defend themselves.
We have to keep a close watch on our cows when calving. Doesn't matter what time of year as they are just as bad in the winter as in warm weather.
The black buzzards have also seemed to crowded out the red headed turkey buzzards, I don't see near as many of red headed ones anymore..

 

[50/50Farms]

I've seen them try to start the party very early on dying or downed critters and I've seen them menace calves. I mean, you could probably kill a newborn calf with a sharpened privet shoot so I'm not surprised when I hear of them eventually overcoming calves. I just would need to see them kill a cow, I don't know how they'd do it sans harassing her to death over a calf. I won't call anybody a liar, there's a million things I haven't seen that have in fact happened. I'm just trying to figure out how they'd manage it.

 

[Ky hills]

I've seen them try to start the party very early on dying or downed critters and I've seen them menace calves. I mean, you could probably kill a newborn calf with a sharpened privet shoot so I'm not surprised when I hear of them eventually overcoming calves. I just would need to see them kill a cow, I don't know how they'd do it sans harassing her to death over a calf. I won't call anybody a liar, there's a million things I haven't seen that have in fact happened. I'm just trying to figure out how they'd manage it.

They circle the calf and sometimes cow too. The cows do literally wear themselves out trying to fight them off but it's a numbers game. She may run a few back but can't get them all and those just come right back. I've seen cows worn out from trying to fight them off. They just keep getting closer to the calf

 

[50/50Farms]

They circle the calf and sometimes cow too. The cows do literally wear themselves out trying to fight them off but it's a numbers game. She may run a few back but can't get them all and those just come right back. I've seen cows worn out from trying to fight them off. They just keep getting closer to the calf

That's why I said sans harassing her to death over a calf. I've heard and and believe accounts of them wearing mamas down and also of them overcoming calves, but the OP said the calves were unmolested.

I have personally seen them begin whittling on the downed and dying, but a live and healthy mama and no damage to the calf.

 

[Ky hills]

That's why I said sans harassing her to death over a calf. I've heard and and believe accounts of them wearing mamas down and also of them overcoming calves, but the OP said the calves were unmolested.

I have personally seen them begin whittling on the downed and dying, but a live and healthy mama and no damage to the calf.

Yeah, that's where I'm thinking there's more to the story too. Perhaps there was something going on nutritionally or health wise that the op wasn't aware of and the cows were down when the buzzards came in. I would not think that buzzards would target an up and going healthy cow. New calf, severely sick or downed cow yes, but not likely a healthy larger calf or cow.