Vultures in Catalonia are being increasingly spotted on the roads in search of roadkill, because of the paucity of their traditional sources of dead livestock: The EU prohibuts abandoning animal cacrasses because of mad cow’s disease. The above photo from La Vanguardia is along the N-230 between Lleida and Val d’Aran.
A new Spanish study has highlighted the role played by vultures in reducing energy consumption in Spain, saving the annual energy use of an estimated 9,000 homes and preventing 193,000 tons of CO2 from being released in the atmosphere. Spanish livestock farmers produces 380,000 tons of carrion, whose incineration involves a high energy cost. An adult vulture consumes some three kilos of meat a week, with all vultures in Spain consuming some 10,000 tonnes a year. Unfortunately the strict EU rules, as a result of mad cow’s disease, force many farmers to incinerate dead animals in official centres at a high cost to both them and in terms of CO2 production. I’d be interested in knowing how much CO2 the vultures would save if and when the EU rules are eventually relaxed.
Europe has still not managed to eradicate Mad cow’s disease (BSE). last year 174 cases were detected, 65 in the UK and 40 in Spain. 500,000 animals were tested in Spain last year El País + EU reports here in English
The removal of livestock because of BSE has had a huge effect on Spanish wildlife. See archive on iberianature
Livestock farmers in the Picos de Europa National Park are soon to be given the option of leaving dead ruminants as carrion instead of the, until now, obligatory and costly removal of cow, sheep and goat corpses due to the EU’s BSE laws. This is excellent news for carrion-feeding birds such as the area’s Griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) as well as for the future reintroduction programme for the Lammergeier (Gypatus barbatus), due to start now in 2009. It should also positively affect other occasional carrion-eating species such as Cantabrian brown bear (Ursus arctos) and Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus).
Follow the topic on Iberianature forum.
Good news. Dead livestock is to be left uncollected in the Picos de Europa for the first time since 2001 when the EU banned the practice due to Mad Cows’ disease. At present some 20,000 dead animals are removed every year from the Spanish countryside which otherwise would have formed part of the food chain. (Fapas)
I am at present unsure as to whether the dead livestock is to be collected in special areas only for carrion birds, or whether, mammals such as brown bears will also be able to benefit. Attacks by bears on fruit trees and beehives have increased dramatically since the ban as carrion forms an essential part of their diet.
Below a bear in Somiedo tucks into a mule (?), exempt from the Mad Cow rule. (Fapas)
See also archive on BSE and wildlife in Spain
As previously reported on Iberianature, bears, wolves and other wildlife in Spain are seriously threatened by the EU dead livestock ban arising from the BSE outbreak. 8-10 bear cubs are estimated to have died in 2006 because of the ban. Just in Asturias, 210,300 kg of dead meat are now removed every year which before was an essential food source for many animals, despite the fact that not a single case of BSE has been detected in the region. (El Mundo). The issue is currently being taken up by Spanish MEPS in the EU (Fapas)
Bear eating carrion in Asturias (FAPAS) See also Good news for carrion birds + spainbearnews
According to Fapas, bears have returned to the area of Belmonte de Miranda. 18 different animals have been detected in the last two years including 4 breeding females. This area of deep valleys and dense forests is now considered vital to the bear’s conservation in Asturias. The lack of carrion because of the prohibition of leaving dead livestock because of mad cow’s disease means it is difficult for the animals to find enough food leading to problems such as raids on beehives. More here from Fapas
Short video here from Asturias TV. Click on the image
Beehives trashed by bears in Belmonte de Miranda
Very good news for carrion birds. A new Spanish national decree is to regulate the feeding stations for carrion birds, and now allow whole bodies of cows (younger than 24 months) and sheep and goats (younger than 18 months), even though these may contain materials at risk, providing a rapid test has been carried out on them. Older animals may now also be dumped after a BSE test on 4% of the dead animals. Since the outbreak of the Mad Cow’s disease, EU law has forced these animals to be removed from the countryside, leading to the closure of many feeding stations. Only horses and donkey could be dumped. This has led to widespread hunger among many carrion birds. More here (El Mundo) They need to pass a similar law to help bears and wolves.
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