Vultures eat woman's body in 50 minutes after fall off cliff [protected species in France]

Reuters ^ | May 7, 2013 | Enrique Calvo

[LurkedLongEnough]

Major Didier Pericou told The Times of Europe, "When we first went out in the helicopter looking for the body, we saw numerous vultures without realizing what they were doing."

Pericou added that the incident has reignited calls from local farmers to allow hunting of the birds. The Times reported that Pyrénéan farmers have been demanding the right to shoot the birds, known as Griffon Vultures, because they've been attacking sheep and cows.

But the species is protected in France and has lost access to its normal diet of carcasses due to European health and safety regulations.

[ZX12R]

In the regular order, vultures eat dead animals. If the French now demand that the dead animals be buried...well, the vultures still have to eat. Good lesson for all the econuts: Don't mess with Mother Nature.

Turkey vultures (we call them buzzards) keep the roads clean of roadkill here in Florida. They are very efficient at it.

[Vaquero]

[Kriggerel]

In some Tibetan Buddhist sects, that sort of thing is called a “Sky Burial”, and it’s considered a great honour.

[heartwood]

We used to have only turkey vultures in NJ. Black vultures have moved in and will attack newborn calves and lambs.

[JimRed]

Cleanup specialists at work.

[Izzy Dunne]

Never heard of the mobile coop being called a "tractor".

My dictionary says a tractor is a "motorized vehicle".

[crz]

Sure it wasnt Obama?

[Izzy Dunne]

I see a solution for the remains of the Boston Bomber...

[Neoliberalnot]

Vultures are obviously progressives.

[SampleMan]

Fair enough, but it’s not helping to cut down on easily accessible dead animals.

In the order of nature, wild vultures eat the remains of wild animals. Are the wild animals no longer dying due to European health regulations? I would like to see that in practice.

We have tons of vultures here in the states and we also dispose of dead animals when they are in public places or can be sold for tankage.

[A.A. Cunningham]

vultures

[mass55th]

I download and watch a lot of UK programs, especially those shows that deal with restoring old properties. It seems that the various bat populations there are endangered, and when renovating historically listed buildings, one has to provide the bats residing there, with a place to roost. One set of buildings in particular was an Oast, or hop kiln where they would dry the hops. When it was discovered that a particular species of endangered bats were living in one end of the set of buildings, the owners had to work their renovations around the schedule of the bats leaving the roost in the fall. I know bats provide an important chain in nature's system, but personally, I'd have a hard time being told I had to spend extra money and time to accommodate some bats.

I love British history and architecture, but I have a hard time understanding why people wanting to restore old listed buildings have to jump through multiple hoops to do so. In many cases, it takes years to get planning permission before renovations can even begin. In the meantime, more damage to the building(s) can occur, which then costs more money for the purchaser. It's no wonder that people run out of money, or they die while waiting for permission to begin work. While I can appreciate the desire for these buildings to be accurately restored, one would think that they would make it easier for people to begin saving these old properties.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

“Buzzards gotta eat same as worms”- Josie Wales

[dangus]

Vultures prefer dead animals. If hungry, they will attack any immobilized creature. If really hungry, the animal need not be all that immobilized.

[Red Badger]

[Caipirabob]

And here we are, observing the grace and beauty of the nearly extinct species [fill in the blank]. Nearly wiped out by man for no reason other than the cause of capitalistic greed, we see [fill in the blank] restored to it's natural environment doing what comes naturally OH MY GOD! WHAT IS IT DOING! IT'S EATING THAT PERSON - NO! WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!? WHY?!?!? WWWWWHHHHYYYY?!?

[lgjhn23]

“The Circle of Life.....”

Maybe Rep. Elijah Cummings D-MD needs to take a junket visit the French cliffs to experience it first hand.

[Caipirabob]

Maybe Rep. Elijah Cummings D-MD needs to take a junket visit the French cliffs to experience it first hand.

To my understanding, they eat carrion, not crap.

[bgill]

Who knows for certain she was dead before being vulturized?

[Does so]

1) My thought, exactly. Maybe she actually survived the fall!

2) Florida here—too! A neighbor watched as one of her chickens—which was moribund, but alive—was carried off by a Turkey Vulture to a nearby rooftop.

3) Before the Interstates came into existence in the 50s-60s, we seldom saw Turkey Vultures in Florida.