Vultures feeding on newborn sheep? (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

In my home country (Portugal) there have been several claims concerning vultures supposedly feeding on live farm animals, especially newborn sheep (which allegedly are eaten alive at the very moment they are born).

These claims are generally based on 'reports' of people, who claim to have seen that behaviour, but strangely enough proof always fails to appear - no pictures or videos, no exact details as to date or location, everything is left a bit vague. The excuse for the lack of proof is that 'in such a horror scene, nobody thinks about taking pictures'.

As far as I know, no ornithologist, birdwatcher or bird photographer has witnessed or documented such an event in this country. All 'reports' come from hunters or farmers, in most cases quoting other people who have seen it.

I am not sure about what is true and what is fantasy in this story and I would like to get more information on this topic.

Does anybody know of any evidence (more than just claims or unsubstantiated reports) that vultures can attack and eat healthy live animals? Have any changes in feeding habits of these scavenger birds been documented?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.
Gonçalo

There's been a Griffon Vulture in the Netherlands that attacked newly hatched White Stork chicks on their nest (source) and a Black Vulture that went after somewhat bigger Lesser Black-backed Gull chicks (source).
Of course, these birds must have been starving!

Might the reports originate from the vultures eating the placenta?

A shepherd I know in Mértola county once showed me a picture on his mobile of Griffons feeding on an old almost dead sheep, he said that the sheep was too weak to walk. Another photo he'd taken showed that an eye had been pecked....ewe.

etudiant said:

Might the reports originate from the vultures eating the placenta?

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I've seen Griffons, Spanish Imperial Eagle and Ravens waiting for placenta - I got the impression that they were waiting for the sheep to move away.

Yes, the placenta situation seems to be more common.

The problem here seems to be eating live sheep (small ones).

As I mentioned above, I am not sure what is true or not. However, a few things should be mentioned:
- vulture population has exploded in Portugal and Spain in recent years, with about 3000 pairs of Black Vultures and 15-20k pairs of Griffons.
- nowadays there are many places where vultures are fed by man (I was told that there are about 23 or 24 such "feeders" in Portugal alone), this of course means easy food and low young mortality
- it is not certain whether there is food for everyone
- sheep herds roam alone during the day within fenced areas but with no shepherd, this means increased vulnerability

Farmers make lots of claims about wildlife causing stock losses. An example is foxes in Britain which are claimed by farmers to be serious predators of lambs. When this was actually studied it was found that hardly any lambs are killed by foxes, same for White-tailed and Golden eagles. Is there compensation paid to the farmers for any lambs lost?

David

Gonçalo Elias said:

- nowadays there are many places where vultures are fed by man (I was told that there are about 23 or 24 such "feeders" in Portugal alone), this of course means easy food and low young mortality

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Ecologically, that's no different to other predators (wolves, lions, whatever) 'feeding' vultures from their own kill remains. I'd suspect in a truly natural situation (no human presence), the food availability for, and population of vultures, would be even higher than what's fed on relatively small amounts of abbatoir waste.

Irregardless if this is actually true, why don't those witnessing this supposed incident chase the Vultures away?

KC Foggin said:

Irregardless if this is actually true, why don't those witnessing this supposed incident chase the Vultures away?

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They've probably so convinced themselves of the rapaceousness of vultures, that they'd get eaten themselves if they dared to try :-O

And also, they'd then lose their chances of a payout from the Govt. 3