oddly enough

oddly enough

Va. town looks for ways to get rid of vultures

VINTON, Va.

Officials in a Virginia town are looking for ways to get migrating buzzards to buzz off.

This year, nearly 100 vultures landed in the Gladetown area of Vinton. Vinton police officers fired booming guns into the air to drive the birds away, and most left.

Town manager Chris Lawrence tells The Roanoke Times that more-efficient methods are being considered for the vultures’ return next year.

The town could apply for a federal permit to kill one vulture. The remains would be hung near the other vultures. Lawrence says the vultures would disperse because they don’t like to be around their own dead.

He says vultures are loud and dirty and tear up trees. But he says the town tries to co-exist with nature.

North Carolina possum drop allowed to go on, judge rules

RALEIGH, N.C.

A judge says the annual New Year’s Eve possum drop can go on as planned in a North Carolina town.

The judge says he won’t block the organizer of a mountain town’s celebration from getting a state permit allowing him to capture a possum and lower it in a cage at midnight.

Attorneys for the Wildlife Resources Commission and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were in court in Raleigh last week. The animal-welfare organization sought to block the annual Possum Drop in Brasstown. A PETA lawyer says the lights, noise and crowd of people can wreck a possum’s nerves and health.

The state commission issued a permit earlier allowing the organizer to capture the animal.

The judge ruled the show in Brasstown can go on.

Associated Press