Better Late Than Never

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," voted best buzzard blog of this or any other era!

Okay, I made that up. But who could beat me for best buzzard blog?

Thanks to a helpful commenter, I discovered that September 5, 2009 was International Vulture Awareness Day. This must be a new event. How else would I not know about it?

You would think that nothing would be sturdier than a vulture. For eons this has been true. Then, of course, along come humans, the best destroyers since that comet blasted the heck out of Mexico to end the Cretaceous Era.

In the past twenty years we've seen a vulture die-off of massive proportions. Before scientists pinpointed the reason, millions of vultures were killed in India, Africa and Asia. Some spectacular buzzards have been driven to the brink of extinction.

How did this sacrilege happen?

Farmers began giving their cows non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. And these medications cause vultures to melt from the inside out.

(Oh goodness, if I ponder this I want to weep!)

Fortunately, we now know the cause of the carnage. What remains to be done is to re-vitalize and restore the vulture populations. And why would we do this? Well, in India the role of scavenger has been taken over by dogs. So, what's more dangerous, a pack of wild dogs or a wake of vultures? (That's the group name for buzzards. Appropriate.)

We at "The Gods Are Bored" revere the Sacred Peace Eagle/Thunderbird and hope that this year, and every year, our world sets aside a Vulture Awareness Day. Long may they glide!

Our operators are standing by to take your call.

Photo by Birdchick.