10,000 hungry vultures are causing panic in the Pyrenees and Basque Country. They have been attacking live animals and have also been aggressive towards humans.
The vultures are starving due to a new EU directive which prohibits farmers from leaving cattle carcasses on their land to rot. The dead animals must now be burned or disposed of in another way. The initiative is to prevent disease spread among cattle but the results have been devastating for the vultures.
Live cows have been attacked by vultures and a farmer in the Pyrenees witnessed a group of vultures trying to eat the leg of a living sheep.
In France, a man among a group of elderly walkers died during an outing and his companions were threatened by a group of vultures as they tried to get at the dead man.
