Plague of vultures forces tiny North Carolina town to take drastic steps: a cannon
A small North Carolina town is vowing to use cannon fire as a way to rid itself of the reviled vultures that have gathered for weeks on rooftops.
Bunn, about 30 miles northeast of Raleigh, says the blasting starts Dec. 22 and will last through Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The Franklin County town has a population of about 366 people.
“An automated propane cannon will be temporarily installed on the roof of the gymnasium of Bunn High School,” the town said in a Dec. 15 Facebook post. “They will be programming the cannon to fire in the morning, afternoon and evening when vultures are likely to be roosting.”
The 130-decibel sound will be “like a gun shot,” officials said.
News of the unusual tactic has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook in the past day, with some commenters noting “firing canons from school rooftops” is another example of bizarre occurrences in 2020.
“Good gracious! Breaking out the artillery in Bunn!” one man wrote on Facebook.
“Anyone looked into why...? Something has to be attracting them,” another posted, introducing a hint of mystery.
Some homeowners have been reporting vulture troubles since mid-November. This includes Alexandra Caldwell, who told WTVD as many as 20 of the large birds are gathering each morning on her roof.
“It was a very eerie feeling,” she told the station. “They’re destroying our property.”
North Carolina is home to two types of vultures — black vultures and turkey vultures — and both are protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the state says. The turkey vulture has a 6-foot wingspan and the black vulture is slightly smaller, with a 5-foot wingspan, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission says.
Vultures are known to roost atop homes “pulling off shingles, caulking around windows, and vinyl siding. They can also scratch paint, pull of windshield wipers, and crack windows on cars,” NCWildlife.org reports.
“People will often use air horns, pyrotechnics, whistles, and lasers to disperse roosting vultures. If the vultures have been roosting in an area for a long time, auditory and visual deterrents are less effective,” the site says.
Vultures are infamous for vomiting when approached by a threat, according to the Carolina Raptor Center. However, it’s more about reducing their weight to take flight than using the “projectile vomit” as a weapon, the center says.
Kristin Dean, bird curator at Huntersville’s Carolina Raptor Center, says vultures are some of nature’s most misunderstood creatures, which is contributing to about “50 percent of vulture species” being endangered or threatened.
They are reviled because they feed on carrion, she says, “but they actually perform important environmental function as nature’s garbage men (and women).”
“In addition to cleaning up U.S. roadways, vultures can stop the spread of deadly diseases in their tracks,” the Carolina Raptor Center says. “What natural adaptation allows them to do it? Their stomach acid’s low pH level (under 1) allows them to digest dread human diseases like anthrax, botulism, rabies and cholera.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Plague of vultures forces tiny North Carolina town to take drastic steps: a cannon."