The images of a swarm of birds being activated on a corpse, broadcast by the television news, have revived the debate around the presence of the griffon vulture on the causses of the Aveyron.
“A quarry of vultures is impressive.
We sometimes talk about 300 birds, ”admits Bruno Veillet, head of the Bird Protection League (LPO) Grands Causses.
"But some breeders see it regularly and are no longer worried," he adds, explaining that 135 breeders even have rendering plots for birds.
Reintroduced in 1981 in the area, the species has been at the heart of the controversy for several weeks.
While there are 800 breeding pairs according to the LPO, breeders speak of overpopulation pushing vultures to change their behavior in order to feed.
"That makes 4000 to 6000 birds", explains Laurent Saint-Affre, president of the FDSEA Aveyron.
“They don't have enough dead animals to eat.
Suddenly, they interact with the herds and kill animals.
They manage to knock down live sheep together or scare the cattle until they injure themselves.
The calf breeder assures us that colleagues have also seen them attack a mare.
An emergency number for breeders
A position which does not convince Bruno Veillet. For this vulture specialist, he is not equipped to kill and no attack is documented. If he recognizes that the bird, a scavenger by nature, can attack a weakened or sick animal, "as during a birth that goes badly for example", the question of overpopulation and the lack of food is "a false debate". He ensures that the LPO has a very detailed knowledge of the population, with an annual increase of 10% of breeding pairs. “When food availability is no longer sufficient, there will be an inflection in these rates, and the population will stabilize. "
To ease tensions, the Aveyron prefecture is not remaining inactive.
“Since last summer, we have received the farmers and their representatives as well as the LPO.
You have to be able to understand what is going on, ”emphasizes Prefect Valérie Michel-Moreaux.
An agreement has been put in place with a veterinary group to carry out on-site expertise and define whether the intervention of griffon vultures takes place ante-mortem or post-mortem.
This requires rapid intervention and the prefecture therefore put into service, on May 17, an emergency number for breeders.
“We already have four expertises that have been talking about attacks for three weeks,” assures Laurent Saint-Affre, of the FDSEA Aveyron.
Read also Basque country: in the face of vulture attacks, breeders ask for a mass grave
Faced with this situation, the union calls for regulation of the species and the possibility for breeders to defend their herds. "The LPO is in a primary, dogmatic position," he regrets. The mediator appointed by the prefecture therefore has work to reconcile the two camps.