Vultures eat woman's body in 50 minutes after fall off cliff

[timsatx]

Shortly after her fatal fall of 980 feet, all that remained of a French woman eaten by vultures was her bones, clothes and shoes.

A woman was eaten by vultures after falling off a cliff in the French Pyrénées, International Business Times reported.

The French woman, whose name has not been released, was hiking Friday in the area with two friends. According to the Times, she attempted a shortcut through the mountain range, located on the border with Spain, but fell off a cliff and died.

The Times reported she died before being eaten by the vultures.

United Press International said she fell about 980 feet. According to UPI, it took the vultures about 50 minutes to eat the 52-year-old's body. They left behind nothing but her bones, clothes and shoes.

Major Didier Pericou told The Times of Europe, "When we first went out in the helicopter looking for the body, we saw numerous vultures without realizing what they were doing."

Pericou added that the incident has reignited calls from local farmers to allow hunting of the birds.

The Times reported that Pyrénéan farmers have been demanding the right to shoot the birds, known as Griffon Vultures, because they've been attacking sheep and cows.

But the species is protected in France and has lost access to its normal diet of carcasses due to European health and safety regulations.

http://news.msn.com/world/vultures-eat-womans-body-in-50-minutes-after-fall-off-cliff?ocid=OBTAP

[gPink]

What? No video?

[Conrad]

Oh right. Let's shoot the birds who are only doing what comes natural to them, cleaning up carrion. At least the woman's body is doing something better than rotting in the ground.

Sorry if that seems insensitive. I'd feel the same way if that happened to someone I know.

[Son of Pappy]

I reckon French scent is ripe for the pickings, no need for fermentation

[gPink]

Any complaint from the birds about hair stuck in their beaks?

[CIG4R]

has lost access to its normal diet of carcasses due to European health and safety regulations.

Those are some compliant vultures following government regulations.

[connie1]

In Canada we are supposed to properly dispose of carcasses by burying, burning or rendering.  The rendering truck charges you to pick up a dead animal you have already lost $1000 on, so that doesn't get done very often.  The ground is frozen 4 months of the year so that doesn't get done either.  Imagine how much wood it would take to completely incinerate a 1200 lb carcass.  The prevailing method of disposal is through the feeding of the wild coyote population.  Bears and vultures get their share too.  With the constant feeding of these animals we don't have to protect any of them,  in fact we get great hunting opportunities on the bears and coyotes.

Maybe if the really smart guys in the wildlife departments were replaced with a bunch of 'dumb' farmers they wouldn't have to protect their vultures, the farmers wouldn't lose live animals and the vultures would be so well fed that the woman's body would have lasted more than 50 minutes.

But then again, maybe not.  I don't know, I'm just a dumb farmer.

[gPink]

Oh, well said C1

[Nosmo]

A timely article.  I saw a turkey vulture in my vacant lot about a week ago, wondered what he was doing around here.  Wednesday the stench of rotting something came to me when I got home from work. I found the dead deer about 150 feet from my house, back up in the woods, looks like it got hit by a car and made it that far before expiring.  It has been eaten on, and the maggots and flies are swarming, but I haven't seen the turkey vulture again.  The stench is flooding the neighborhood, but I'm letting nature take it's course.  It's probably annoying my neighbors more than me, which is always good.

[connie1]

Sometimes I wonder if the vultures live on carrion or the maggots inhabiting it.  The only things I've seen vultures on were so far gone that the coyotes wouldn't touch it.  Incredible birds though. 
If I see one I literally have to stop and watch it soar... they are masters of the sky.  They make hawks and eagles look almost amateur.

[Conrad]

Sometimes I wonder if the vultures live on carrion or the maggots inhabiting it.  The only things I've seen vultures on were so far gone that the coyotes wouldn't touch it.  Incredible birds though. 
If I see one I literally have to stop and watch it soar... they are masters of the sky. They make hawks and eagles look almost amateur.

That depends on the eagle I guess.

Eagle throws goat off cliff to its death

[Miss Silvera]

"Buzzards gotta eat same as worms"  Jose Wales

[VirginiaJim]

That depends on the eagle I guess.

That eagle wouldn't be doing it if he knew the vultures were waiting but I have seen bald eagles chowing down with vultures in my neck of the woods...actually several times.

[MAN OF BLUES]

That eagle wouldn't be doing it if he knew the vultures were waiting but I have seen bald eagles chowing down with vultures in my neck of the woods...actually several times.

got this dude doing the very same thing by where I lived in Hanover (Calno off rt 30) ...there was a semicircle of buzzards surrounding him, while he ripped on that deer carcass

everytime they started getting close, he would spread and flap his wings......the buzzards wanted NO part with him...
heheheheh

[Conrad]

Here's one pic of many that I took a few years ago at one of the lock and dams on the Mississippi river near here. The river was frozen except for the area behind the dam and all these Bald Eagles where hunting for fish.

Click to zoom, there were a TON of Eagles there, this is just a few of them.

[Miss Silvera]

AWESOME!     I think it is note worthy to post that Eagles, especially Bald Eagles are very...VERY...opportunistic feeders....

We want to think of them swooping down to snag that fish out of the water, when actually they had rather find a dead fish on the bank....

Which is actually better I suppose, cleaning up and not wasting....

now if we could get people would do the same...

[Conrad]

AWESOME!     I think it is note worthy to post that Eagles, especially Bald Eagles are very...VERY...opportunistic feeders....

We want to think of them swooping down to snag that fish out of the water, when actually they had rather find a dead fish on the bank....

Which is actually better I suppose, cleaning up and not wasting....

now if we could get people would do the same...

It seemed that lots of these Eagles would rather wait for one of their pals to catch a fish and then try to take that fish away from the other bird. Hmm, that sounds familiar...

[VirginiaJim]

now if we could get people would do the same...

Actually, that's been done...  Jeffrey Dahmer comes immediately to mind and then there's multiple cases of groups of people  that are starving eating the dead (or maybe the living?).  Then there's cannibals in the south Pacific.

So quite a few people have been there, done that, and have the cannibal t-shirts.

[Gumby]

Click to zoom, there were a TON of Eagles there, this is just a few of them.

That is a cool pic Conrad. 

[Miss Silvera]

Actually, that's been done...  Jeffrey Dahmer comes immediately to mind and then there's multiple cases of groups of people  that are starving eating the dead (or maybe the living?).  Then there's cannibals in the south Pacific.

So quite a few people have been there, done that, and have the cannibal t-shirts.

Uhhhh, I meant to clean up trash and not waste...food....regular food...not people AS food...

I should have been more descriptive.....