THE WILD LIFE Vultures Can Be Good Neighbors

THE WILD LIFE Vultures Can Be Good Neighbors

By Annie Bradfield Executive Director, Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

While vultures may not be your favorite bird, after learning more about them, you may start to admire these amazing scavengers.

Our area is home to two species: the red-headed turkey vulture and the aptly named black vulture. They’re not “buzzards,” an entirely different species, but their names are often confused.

Turkey vultures are often followed by black vultures because turkey vultures have a better sense of smell and lead black vultures to the carrion. All vultures make quick work of removing dead animals from roads, protecting other wildlife that would be attracted to the roadside from getting hit themselves.

Their bald heads allow them to rinse off easily after feasting on carrion, and they often can be seen gathering in and around shallow water or puddles. They tend to roost in elevated areas, and a group of roosting vultures is called a “committee,” best viewed from late autumn through early spring, when vultures stay closer to roadways and human settlements, looking for food. They also seek warmth atop chimneys, water towers and roofs that reflect heat.

Black and turkey vultures play an essential role in our natural world by devouring animal carcasses and preventing the spread of diseases—rabies, botulism, anthrax and others that can sicken or kill other animals and humans. They rarely eat living things, though they may occasionally eat small, sickly animals or newborns too weak to move away.

The idea that human health is connected to the health of animals and the environment is known as “One Health,” a collaborative effort that integrates local, national and international agencies to monitor and better understand the impact of zoonotic diseases on human health.

Dr. Jennifer Riley, the BRWC’s director and lead veterinarian, and her staff perform a range of diagnostics on every animal that arrives—almost 4,000 mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds each year. These findings and reports are sent to appropriate agencies and researchers.

“Vultures are some of the most important animals we treat at the center from a One Health perspective,” Dr. Riley said. “It’s not only in the diseases they destroy, but in the information we can gather about our shared environment by testing for heavy metals and other toxins and diseases.”

Vultures inadvertently consume lead and other heavy metals with deadly consequences. On average, BRWC cares for more than four dozen vultures each year. About 90 percent test positive for lead. Lead poisoning affects all animals that scavenge

– especially vultures, eagles, and opossums

– because they regularly eat wildlife left behind by hunters. It only takes a lead fragment the size of a grain of rice to cause fatal levels of toxicity in vultures and eagles.

Individuals who hunt game and those who shoot “nuisance” animals are encouraged to use non-lead ammunition. And because vultures are federally protected birds, it’s illegal to shoot them. Still, more than 20 percent of the vultures we receive arrive as gunshot victims.

Some people think of vultures as dirty and smelly because of their eating habits, but they’re actually clean, regal, magnificent birds. “Vultures are very good neighbors to have,” Dr. Riley said. “They provide a huge environmental benefit to our neighborhoods and communities.”

The BRWC is home to a turkey vulture named Moira Rose and black vulture named Wednesday Addams. They’re part of BRWC’s Wildlife Walk open to visitors daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Details: blueridgewildlifectr.org.