Re: Black vultures are eating cows alive. Now some farmers can legally shoot the protected birds.

On 8/18/2021 3:21 PM, Leroy N. Soetoro wrote:
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/17/cows-black-vultures-
> killing-cows-farmers-indiana-farm-
> bureau/8162357002/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=exchange&utm_content=news
> 
> SCOTTSBURG, Ind. — Sometimes as many as a dozen black vultures circle
> above John Hardin's fields in southern Indiana’s Scott County, poised for
> when they spot a cold, weak or vulnerable cow. Unlike their turkey vulture
> cousins, which are easy to spot with their red heads, black vultures don’t
> always wait for their meals to be dead.
> 
> “The black vultures, now that's a very, very aggressive bird,” Hardin
> said. “They’re basically waiting for the cows and calves to die or trying
> to kill them.”
> 
> Black vultures survive, like most vultures, by eating carrion, or the
> remains of dead animals. That can serve as an integral part of the
> ecosystem: eating diseased remains that could carry sickness and spread to
> other animals. But unlike Indiana’s turkey vultures, black vultures also
> go for living animals: calves, piglets, lambs and other small livestock
> are their preferred targets.
> 
> Seemingly every day when Hardin walks out his door, he sees them. They
> often are perched on the roof ridge of his neighbor’s barn or settled on a
> nearby fence post — watching, waiting.
> 
> It may sound ominous, Hardin said, and in a way, it is.
> 
> The livestock farmer said he’s lost at least two but possibly up to four
> animals in the last few years because of black vultures.
> 
> “When you’re in the animal husbandry business, one of the worst things you
> want is for an animal to die, especially the way vultures do it,” Hardin
> said. “Once they get a hold of them, they pick the calf’s nose off, pick
> around his mouth, face and navel. So then the calf can’t make it very long
> after that.”
> 
> Hardin is among a growing list of farmers who are dealing with what many
> describe as a reign of terror brought on by black vultures. These birds,
> however, are protected under an international law that regulates the
> hunting of migratory birds. That fact has left livestock producers across
> the state with a limited set of tools for how to address these birds, and
> with varying levels of success.
> 
> But the Indiana Farm Bureau is trying to give them another option. In
> early August, the insurance organization launched a new program in which
> livestock producers can apply for a permit to legally kill and remove a
> set number of black vultures from their property.
> 
> This initiative is several years in the making, but the farm bureau hopes
> it will have a swift impact.
> 
> “When the initial volley of calls came in from those producers, we tried
> to figure out how we could help them,” said Greg Slipher, Indiana Farm
> Bureau’s livestock specialist. “This gives them more control of what’s
> happening on their farm.”
> 
> Vultures kill dozens of animals
> Slipher first heard of black vultures about five years ago when he got a
> call from his colleagues in Kentucky warning him: They’re coming.
> Seemingly overnight, black vultures started popping up everywhere on
> southern Indiana’s landscape, he said.
> 
> “I got a heads up that these birds were coming my way,” he said, “and by
> golly they were right.”
> 
> Black vultures have continued to expand north in recent decades across the
> Ohio River from their original territory in southern states. In the 1990s,
> there were so few black vultures in Indiana that groups dedicated to
> protecting migratory birds didn’t even have a clear estimate. Now, a
> recent study based on calculations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
> estimates upward of 17,000 black vultures in the state.
> 
> As their numbers have grown, so, too, has the damage the black-headed
> birds have caused and the calls for assistance they’ve spurred. The Animal
> and Plant Health Inspection Service with USDA has received an average of
> 8,639 technical assistance calls from participants in 2020 nationwide.
> 
> That increase can mostly be attributed to producers who are looking for
> help on how to manage the vultures, Humberg said.
> 
> Black vultures terrorize: Difficult to legally kill birds that are eating
> livestock
> 
> Still, the damage black vultures have caused is a little less easy to nail
> down — at least at the present. A multi-year study of black vultures being
> led by Purdue University is currently underway. One of its goals is to
> better understand how many farmers have been affected, how many animals
> have been lost and the resulting financial costs.
> 
> A survey of only about 20 livestock producers found they lost 25 animals
> to black vultures in the last three years, including both adult cows and
> calves. A single cow can be worth more than $1,000, and for small
> producers, the loss of just one cow can be a major disruption to their
> operation.
> 
> Program to protect livestock from vultures
> According to outdoorlife.com, the black vulture reduction pilot program
> started in Kentucky and Tennessee, and includes Arkansas, Mississippi,
> Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. The program allows farmers with vulture
> problems to obtain a depredation permit.
> 
> The U.S. has migratory bird treaties with Canada and Mexico, as well as
> Japan and Russia. These laws were put in place to protect migratory birds,
> which often cross international borders, from over-hunting. Black vultures
> are protected under one of these treaties: The 1918 Migratory Bird Act.
> 
> Under that law, it is illegal to maim or kill black vultures without a
> permit, which costs $100 in Indiana. Farmers can apply for one of these
> permits through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but they have found
> the process onerous and the cost a deterrent.
> 
> “It becomes a convenience issue and a dollars issue,” Slipher said.
> 
> Indiana drew inspiration from Kentucky, which pioneered this program
> several years ago. Since then, similar initiatives have popped up in
> Tennessee, and most recently in Missouri — all of which have worked well
> and had positive results, Slipher said. He hopes Indiana will see similar
> success.
> 
> Indiana Farm Bureau is now taking on that part of the process for farmers.
> The organization applied for a permit from FWS, which it received in June.
> With that approval, the farm bureau is paying the permit cost and can
> award sub-permits to its members, for free, to lethally remove black
> vultures.
> 
> “That’s going to be to our advantage,” Slipher added. “We have that
> relationship in place already and farmers will be more comfortable
> reaching out to work with us on it.”
> 
> Their goal is to make things as straightforward as possible.
> 
> There is no limit on the number of permits the organization can give out,
> but it is authorized to take only 500 vultures this year. Based on each
> individual producer’s needs, the farm bureau will set the number of
> vultures they can take, not to exceed five.
> 
> Producers are excited about the program. In the first week since it
> launched, the farm bureau already received 24 applications, and Slipher
> expects that number to grow as the fall calving season approaches. He
> plans to issue the first permit this week.
> 
> Hardin is one of the farmers who applied.
> 
> “It’s going to be hard to eradicate them, but I hope it helps,” he said.
> “Everybody I know is on board, and I think there is a sense of hope.”
> 
> After receiving a permit, producers must report the vultures that they
> remove and also ensure that they dispose of them properly. That can
> include burying the birds, but Slipher hopes farmers will do something
> else. He is encouraging them to preserve at least one of the birds and
> hang them on the property in effigy, which has been found to be an
> effective method for warding off more vultures.
> 
> Humberg envisions this program becoming a mainstay, as long as it is
> successful.
> 
> “The vultures are here to stay, and we are going to have to find ways that
> we can all live together,” he said. “If that means some birds have to be
> lethally removed, hopefully we’re minimizing the number of birds we have
> to treat that way and the number of cattle lost.”
> 
> Contributing: Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
> 

Those things are almost as bad as jews, who by their very nature are 
just as predatory as vultures.