# Florida Is Solving A Vulture Infestation With Guns



## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

Carrion my wayward son.

Not corpse.



> Vultures have it rough. First of all, nature has decided that their main food is going to be corpses. I’ve never eaten a corpse, but I can’t imagine them being anything near tasty. Besides their unfortunate diet, they also have to deal with having a gross little bald head. That can’t be good for the self-esteem. Unfortunately, for a group of black vultures in Westchase, Florida, their misfortune is about to come to a permanent end.
> 
> As mentioned earlier, vultures are not the most cuddly of birds. That, combined with their reputation as quite an unfortunate omen, leads to them being fairly unwelcome in most neighborhoods. However, Westchase’s vulture population seems to be a little heartier and harder to shake, and residents are running out of ideas. I don’t know if Westchase has a phenomenal corpse supply or a very welcoming graveyard or what, but the vultures have decided that it’s their forever home.
> 
> ...


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

What the article doesn't say is that this community is having problems with Black vultures, not Turkey vultures. Black vultures are aggressive birds who don't always wait for an animal to die before they start eating it. Black vultures have been known to start eating livestock that is in the process of being born. The birds are under federal protection through the Migratory Bird Act but they are becoming such a nuisance that some places are granting depredation permits to reduce the numbers. It's not just a Florida problem, other states are seeing increasing numbers of Black vultures and their increase of livestock killing.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

so how do I get a vacation shooting vultures ?
have gun will travel.


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## Big_Al (Dec 21, 2011)

Vultures are protected under Florida law.
This will go no where.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> so how do I get a vacation shooting vultures ?
> have gun will travel.


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## ScottOz (Mar 10, 2020)

Big_Al said:


> Vultures are protected under Florida law.
> This will go no where.


You know the ones with deep pockets always win in Florida. They want the lakes sprayed to death so they don't have any weeds in them either. They have have gotten their way for 40 years on that subject.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Big_Al said:


> Vultures are protected under Florida law.
> This will go no where.


if you read the article it is just the Black vulture when there are reports of heard damage issues , it is a special depredation hunt as the black vulture will get very aggressive and start attacking live stock


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## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

_"The city is going to throw fireworks into their roosting site, aka home, and then any vultures that don’t flee in terror will be shot. Which feels very American..." _

Sounds like Waco.


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

Did it say why they congregate?
Are they at the dump? Is there mass neglect and improper disposal of farm animals?
Nature balances itself. If they had no food they’d move away. Educate the dumb humans imo. It’s like bears. Stop feeding them, they don’t have time to hang around if there’s no food. 

It‘s like killing the snakes to save the birds. You get other vermin.
Killing the coyotes to protect sheep and chickens then you get vermin.
Killing wolves and cougars, you get an overpopulation of coyotes and deer.


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

^ Normally I would agree exactly that. In general, these birds can go after young animals and birthing mothers, so people need to either watch their stock better or tack it up as nature.

But in this story, I don't know if Westchase is rural or a city and why the vultures are there. 

Warming temps may also have them expanding their range (though in this case I don't think that's applicable). And I don't know if they're among the species weakened by DDT and, like eagles, if their populations are just getting back to what they once were.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

altair said:


> ^ Normally I would agree exactly that. In general, these birds can go after young animals and birthing mothers, so people need to either watch their stock better or tack it up as nature.
> 
> But in this story, I don't know if Westchase is rural or a city and why the vultures are there.
> 
> Warming temps may also have them expanding their range (though in this case I don't think that's applicable). And I don't know if they're among the species weakened by DDT and, like eagles, if their populations are just getting back to what they once were.



As you have alluded, there is more that is not said than is actually said in the article.

My M&FIL lived next to a lake in Southwest Missouri and one-year a hoard turkey vultures flocked there.

It was a disaster.

They destroyed the exposed upholstery on every boat in the area and what they didn't ruin, they defecated on.

I don't know the wherefores and the whys of the black vulture invasion, however, if they are anything like turkey vultures in their capacity for destruction, I can understand why they want rid of them.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

They congregate where there is food and an adequate night perch. I'm a few hundred yards from a cell tower which is two miles from a highway. There is a LOT of road kill around here. The tower is crowded with vultures every night. I don't know which variety.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

To stop feeding the vultures, people need to either not run over animals or pick up and bury animals they hit. Does anyone believe that will happen? Without roadkill, Black vultures will kill young or weak animals, sometimes older healthy animals.

Why are they congregating? It's spring. Time to lay eggs and raise young vultures. The vultures are looking for nesting sites. There is a Turkey Vulture nesting site near my house. Preferred nesting sites have open ground with big dead trees with sturdy limbs nearby.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Picking up roadkill isn’t legal here.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I don't know if it's legal here (picking up roadkill other than deer) but many times it sure isn't safe. Columbus drivers would rather run you over than stop.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

Danaus29 said:


> To stop feeding the vultures, people need to either not run over animals or pick up and bury animals they hit. Does anyone believe that will happen? Without roadkill, Black vultures will kill young or weak animals, sometimes older healthy animals.
> 
> Why are they congregating? It's spring. Time to lay eggs and raise young vultures. The vultures are looking for nesting sites. There is a Turkey Vulture nesting site near my house. Preferred nesting sites have open ground with big dead trees with sturdy limbs nearby.


The thing that a lot of humans cannot accept, nor comprehend is that nature does not play out like a Walt Disney movie.

Skunks are not cuddly, Thumper does not appreciate that the water is stiff, and Bambi does not court Faline.

Raw nature is messy and often cruel from a human POV. Cute little baby animals are ripped to shreds by predators or in the case of lions, by dominant males who want their genes replicated rather than those of the sire of the cubs he kills. 

Mufasa and Simba don't exist.

Not enough is known about the background particulars of the black vulture clash in Florida.

Is it a chronic year in, year out occurrence? Is the local environment ideal habitat? What are the habits of the black vulture? Is flocking an abnormal behavior? Are mountains being made out of molehills? Further information is required.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

Danaus29 said:


> I don't know if it's legal here (picking up roadkill other than deer) but many times it sure isn't safe. Columbus drivers would rather run you over than stop.


Cafe just down the road from here.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I have been reading studies about Black Vultures for a couple years. Their numbers are increasing and their range is spreading, mostly due to human activity. 

When wild predators start causing problems for livestock owners or city residents, depredation permits are often issued to reduce the number of predators. 

It's not a Disney concept, it's a human concept. All over this country, when wild animals start causing problems for humans, humans often resort to eliminating the problem animals. You do the same with mice in your house.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

Leech lake in MN is a world renown walleye fishery. The walleye population dropped. A massive build up of cormorants was blamed. They were shot. The walleye population rebounded. No one can prove that killing the cormorants caused the rebound in walleyes but it seems logical. Cormorants eat young fish.

I don't have a problem reducing the population of a species of wildlife that's causing depredation and destruction provided that that species is not endangered. 

The gray wolf has been declared endangered in the lower 48 and hunting them has been banned. There are millions of gray wolves in Canada


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

^ They did culling programs with cormorants here to spare yellow perch. 

To compromise population control with the sensitive people, they coated the birds' eggs with vegetable oil and severely reduced the number of hatchlings.


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## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Nimrod said:


> The gray wolf has been declared endangered in the lower 48 and hunting them has been banned. There are millions of gray wolves in Canada


That has changed. The grey wolf population in USA is still federally protected and _managed_ (cullings take place if necessary) but they have been taken off the endangered species list in the lower 48 just a few short years ago (I think it was 2018). In 2017 there were 18,000 grey wolves in USA - Alaska had 12,000 and the lower 48 had 6,000 all situated in the northern parts of the American states that run along the CDA/USA border.

It's true that Canada has the world's largest grey wolf population but there aren't millions of them in Canada (that is really a stretch), there are actually only 60,000 grey wolves in Canada.

.


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## Wyobuckaroo (Dec 30, 2011)

It's true that Canada has the world's largest grey wolf population but there aren't millions of them in Canada (that is really a stretch), there are actually only 60,000 grey wolves in Canada. 
--- ---
This is true... But for the livestock and pet damage that has been done here between our place and the river bottom below us.. Even if it were just 1 wolf that is 1 too damn many.... 

Now.. If we could figure a way for bears to eat wolves, and wolves to eat bears.... That might be a start to solving a lot of problems in this part of the province... 

My 5 cents of opinion, and I'm sticking to it...


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