Florida's Everglades National Park News, Vultures picking rubber from cars. (airports, gift)

[JD59]

MIAMI, April 6 (UPI) -- Officials and workers at Florida's Everglades National Park said vultures have been ripping rubber parts from vehicles parked in the area.

Linda Hyde, who works at the Anhinga Trail gift shop in the park, said the vultures have been picking windshield wipers, door seals, sunroof seals and other parts made from rubber and vinyl from vehicles at the park, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

Vultures picking rubber from cars - UPI.com

[rogerbacon]

"She said the park's attempts at keeping the vultures away from the cars, including effigies and hanging the carcasses of dead vultures, have not dissuaded the birds from pecking on cars."

"This puts us in kind of a tough situation. These birds are native and they're protected," Hallac said. "We're looking for ways, without injuring the birds, because that's not what we do here, to keep them from damaging vehicles."

So it's come to this. We're protecting carrion-eating vultures. VULTURES. I can't think of a more disgusting animal outside of the slug/insect/worm families. Here's a solution: revoke their protected status and kill them. Those things are a menace around the airports too. In Homestead (near the everglades) they like to circle around the runways and they are BIG birds too. You hit one of those on takeoff or final and you are in a serious life-threatening situation.

[jtur88]

You think that's bad, wait until you're visiting Big Bend and a kangaroo-rat gets into your heating system and dies in there.