International Vulture Awareness Day 2012

We were waiting for a very long time, but finally today it's the first Saturday of September:

We are celebrating International Vulture Awareness Day 2012!!!

Today is the day we all should be aware of the importance of vultures for our planet. Vultures are not just "ugh", "yuck!" or "carrion feeder"! Vultures are our world's health police, majestic appearance in the sky and I am not alone in this opinion that vultures are beautiful!
Vultures are self-sacrificing parents, keeping their eyes glued to their egg or chick. In any wind or weather they care selflessly for their offspring, warming it, protecting it from enemies and feeding it with lots of tasty meat.

Is a feather sticking to the chicks beak and itching, are little branches inside the nest pricking the chick or is the chick just hungry: Immediately the proud vulture-parents are on the spot. And if someone comes to close to the nest they suspiciously observe the disturber, draw up their feathers and impressive stretching their long neck. Fortunately this year I was able watching all this when going to the Zoo of Duisburg every few days for many months, observing an Eurasian Griffon Vulture couple raising their cute and beautiful chick.

Vultures know they will just have a little chance to survive when looking for food all alone. They would have to cover a very great distance to find some food and that would be too strength-sapping. That's why vultures are giving themselves signals about many, many kilometers when one vulture found some food. In this way they all get sated and ensure their survival.
Vultures feed on dead animals, carcasses, carrions. Yes, they do! Even old and rotten meat. That might be disgusting to people, but we benefit from this. If vultures would not eat dead animals - and even human waste - streets and steppe would be covered over with rubbish and rotten meat. The carrions would become a hotbed of diseases, deadly dangerous to people. Of course vultures could imagine much more tasty dinner, but the nature provides that vultures eat dead just dead animals. Great luck for us, because in general the carrions will be eaten by the vultures' health police, before diseases can disseminate. At least in areas where enough wild vultures are living... Unfortunately there are not many of these places anymore in the world!!! Most species of vultures of Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America are badly endangered, on the Red List and close to extinction. Just few more years of ignorance and all vultures can be gone forever soon!
Shall we really leave it like that? Shall we really prize our "disgust" for vultures' lifestyle, their unusual look and their unappetising food above their benefit for us? Or shall we open our eyes for this wonderful giant birds, their elegant appearance when circling in the sky? Shall we open our eyes to the real beauty of this impressive creatures, against all prejudices?
Today is the day to ask yourself all these questions!
Today is the day for active discussions, questions you never asked and candid views on vultures!
Today is the day we should dedicated our attention to these missunderstood, despised creatures, especially if we don't pay attention to them all the other 364 days of the year! Vultures are worth being in the limelight on this special day and worth do get a fair chance convincing us of their elegance, beauty and right to exist!
Hey guy, even if you prefer to steer clear of vultures, ignore or sniff at them, please don't do that today!
'Cause today we are celebrating our International Vulture Awareness Day!!!