INTERNATIONAL VULTURE AWARENESS DAY

International Vulture Awareness Day was September 3rd. Did you celebrate?

While few of us feel the same thrill as spotting a brilliant Baltimore Oriole or a sleek Cedar Waxwing, the vulture would be sorely missed should it one day disappear. When the vulture population began declining dramatically in South Asia in the 1990s, an emergency situation emerged as decaying, uneaten animal carcasses created overpowering stench and disease, and attracted packs of rabid dogs. It was ultimately determined the vulture die-off was due to a common painkiller given to sick cattle. If a vulture ate a treated animal that had died, a single meal was enough to be the bird's last meal. Although the Indian government has now banned the drug for use in in animals (the drug is also used for humans), it may be many, many years before the vultures return to their earlier populations.

Here in Texas, this ecologically vital group of birds has proved itself even more so during the drought, as deer and other wildlife wander fatally closer to roads in search of food. With its corrosive stomach acid, allowing the vulture to safely digest sick animals, and its method of urinating straight down the leg, releasing a uric acid that kills the bacteria acquired from walking through dead animals, the vulture is an amazing, environmentally sound garbage disposal.

Although the reason for many a turned head as they're seen enthusiastically gorging on a roadside carcass, we should all be giving the vulture a nod of thanks.

A Black Vulture awaits the call of its ecologically vital, but often under-appreciated, purpose.

*****

Plateau Land & Wildlife Management helps Texas landowners protect and enhance their greatest asset -- their land -- with wildlife management plans, wildlife tax valuation assistance, qualifying wildlife management valuation activities, and more.