HUNGRY CARRION-EATERS
Flock of some 100 vultures kills cow and newborn calf
05/03/2007
The phenomenon is on the rise in the Spanish Mena Valley and elsewhere in Burgos, said Jose Manuel de las Heras, president of the local chapter of a union called the Farmers and Ranchers Coordinator.
A flock of some 100 vultures killed a cow and her newborn calf, the latest in a series of attacks in which carrion-eaters get so hungry they set upon on live animals, a Spanish farmer's union said Thursday.
The attack occurred last weekend in the Mena Valley, an area in northern Burgos province that is home to many cattle ranches, the Spanish Interior Ministry office in Burgos said. It said a rancher alerted police after seeing the birds swarm on a cow that had just given birth and kill both animals. "There was nothing he could do to stop them,'' the office said in a statement.
The phenomenon is on the rise in that valley and elsewhere in Burgos, said Jose Manuel de las Heras, president of the local chapter of a union called the Farmers and Ranchers Coordinator.
In the past two months there have been three or four attacks in the valley and several others elsewhere. Traditionally, farmers and rural officials designate areas to dump the carcasses of farm animals like mules so vultures could feed on them. But there are fewer and fewer of these places, in part because of mad cow disease: it is now illegal to dump cow or any other ruminant remains at such feeding troughs, de las Heras said.
The result is that vultures are so hungry they have even shed their wariness of humans to swoop down near farms and feast on live animals like cattle and pigs, de las Heras said. "We have seen them land 100 meters from people. They are not afraid of anything," he said in a telephone interview.
Do you believe this?
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Dusty Britches
Well-known member
sounds like to me they asked for this problem by feeding the vultures with the carcasses and then all of the sudden stopped. Kinda like the guy who was feeding the wild hogs not far from me. He stopped a few weeks ago and moved on. The rest of us are now dealing with numerous wild and very hungry hogs.
I'd say shoot em and end their misery of starving to death, but no one asked my advice.
I'd say shoot em and end their misery of starving to death, but no one asked my advice.
sidney411
Well-known member
He could have done something - start shooting at them and I guarantee he could have scared them off. Maybe not in time to save the cow/calf but if he seen it happen just watching it should not have been his only option (or even an option at all!)
Dusty,
What do you guys do in Tx with the remains.
We also in Fl dump are remains at the edge of the property. It would get offly expensive to dig a hole or call someone to carry the dead ones away. Why not let the vultures do there work and yes I have seen them take a calf before.
What do you guys do in Tx with the remains.
We also in Fl dump are remains at the edge of the property. It would get offly expensive to dig a hole or call someone to carry the dead ones away. Why not let the vultures do there work and yes I have seen them take a calf before.
Yikes! I would hate to have been there when it happened. I guess if they did feed the dead cattle to the vultures, then one still moving would be a warm meal. Ugh!
When I first heard of them picking the eyes out of newborn calves here, I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to think that they were born dead since that is the first thing they eat. Then we had a friend that said he had a calf that he knew was alive and they got it. Now when I see them over a pasture, I get a knot in my stomach.
I read where the black vultures are the meanest and most aggressive. Their heads are black and I think they have white tipped wings. The turkey vultures, I have not heard of them attacking anything alive. They do have the red heads.
A machine gun would have been perfect for the flock in Spain.
Chuckie
When I first heard of them picking the eyes out of newborn calves here, I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to think that they were born dead since that is the first thing they eat. Then we had a friend that said he had a calf that he knew was alive and they got it. Now when I see them over a pasture, I get a knot in my stomach.
I read where the black vultures are the meanest and most aggressive. Their heads are black and I think they have white tipped wings. The turkey vultures, I have not heard of them attacking anything alive. They do have the red heads.
A machine gun would have been perfect for the flock in Spain.
Chuckie
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
atcjets":1lidps16 said:
Throw them in a brush pile if it is not too dry and light them up. Otherwise flies will become abundant.
Turkey vultures are not a problem. Turkey vultures are a good thing.
Mexican buzzards are killing calves left and right in these parts. They will pop their eyes out first. They attack in flocks. Protective cows will go after some and the others attack the calf.
There is a recent long thread on this subject. Game wardens cannot shoot the Mexican beasts but they are calling the cattle owners when they spot them.
Have you hugged your turkey vulture today? :lol:
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
I have lost several to black vultures, now I take the ones that die and put them in the buzzard trap.
CowpokeJ
Well-known member
How does this contraption work?Caustic Burno":3r9cfhk4 said:
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
CowpokeJ":1j8rbila said:
:lol:
Buzzards wiped out half of my goat crop about 6 years ago--They(40) kidded in a 48hr period and it drew at least 100 buzzards- they harrassed the does till they lost track of a kid.
I came home from town and found them at it-- I can believe that the poor guy couldn't get them off- They go into a feeding frenzy and don't care about anything- I'd run one group back and another would come in from behind.Hubby came out with the gun(and not near enough bullets) and it didn't phase them-He'd shoot one and they would scatter then come to eat it-- I had to take 5 dogs out there to finally get them to leave. And I had to leave the dogs chained out in the pasture for a week to keep them gone.
Know how creepy that "Birds" movie was-- that writer must have been in a buzzard feeding frenzy to have come up with the idea for that movie. I was really nervous for my saftey till I brought the dogs out.
same problem- regulation tightened on chicken disposal and they got hungry and were not afraid of being around humans any more.And believe it or not its illegal to shoot them here(endangered species).
they also got several newborn calves in the area- that cow must have had labor problems and not been able to get up- I;ve seen them go after cows that were down with tetany too long. Doubt they could do anything to a cow that could get up and move.
I have noticed that the overwhelming numbers of buzzards has gone away--and they don't act as tame-- but it took several years.
I came home from town and found them at it-- I can believe that the poor guy couldn't get them off- They go into a feeding frenzy and don't care about anything- I'd run one group back and another would come in from behind.Hubby came out with the gun(and not near enough bullets) and it didn't phase them-He'd shoot one and they would scatter then come to eat it-- I had to take 5 dogs out there to finally get them to leave. And I had to leave the dogs chained out in the pasture for a week to keep them gone.
Know how creepy that "Birds" movie was-- that writer must have been in a buzzard feeding frenzy to have come up with the idea for that movie. I was really nervous for my saftey till I brought the dogs out.
same problem- regulation tightened on chicken disposal and they got hungry and were not afraid of being around humans any more.And believe it or not its illegal to shoot them here(endangered species).
they also got several newborn calves in the area- that cow must have had labor problems and not been able to get up- I;ve seen them go after cows that were down with tetany too long. Doubt they could do anything to a cow that could get up and move.
I have noticed that the overwhelming numbers of buzzards has gone away--and they don't act as tame-- but it took several years.
