Predator vultures eat Spanish farm animals alive

By Sinikka Tarvainen May 29, 2007, 14:42 GMT

Madrid - For as long as anyone can remember, Spanish griffon vultures have swooped down on carcasses of dead cattle or other animals lying on fields or forests.

Yet now, in a dramatic change of behaviour, the bald-headed and broad-winged scavengers are making savage attacks on live cows, sheep and even horses, literally eating them alive.

The phenomenon has surprised officials some of whom refuse to believe it, saying the birds only attack sick or moribund animals.

Farmers, however, maintain that the vultures also set upon healthy animals, mostly mares or cows which have just given birth and their newborn.

'The birds have killed 17 of my 40 recently born colts,' said Antonio de la Fuente, a rancher near Burgos in northern Spain.

Some cases of vultures attacking live animals have been reported in the 1980s and 1990s, but they were rare.

Now, however, 'cows become nervous and even flee when they see a flock of vultures soaring overhead,' Catalan farmer Josep Blasi said.

There have been dozens of reports of griffon vultures predating on live animals in northern and eastern Spain.

In early May, for instance, about 100 vultures killed a cow and its newborn calf near Burgos.

Farmers are not asking the authorities to eliminate the birds, which help to keep the environment clean of carcasses, but for a control and, above all, for damages for losses which are not foreseen by any law.

Experts link the vultures' behaviour with the epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow disease, in 2001 and 2002, which prompted the authorities to prohibit leaving cadavers of dead animals in the wild.

The amount of food for the vultures decreased just as they were on the increase. The number of griffon vultures has grown from about 3,000 to 22,000 couples in Spain over two decades thanks to measures aimed at preserving the protected species.

The government has now modified the mad cow rules, adopting a decree allowing farmers to leave carcasses outside.

Whether the vultures will go back to their former menu, remains to be seen.