Saturday, 04 September 2010 15:16

Madrid, Sep 4 (EFE) .- The birds of prey each year necrophagous prevent the incineration of thousands of tons of animals, resulting in energy savings equivalent to annual expenditure of 9,000 households and keeps ending up 193,000 tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere. In Spain, are generated each year 380,000 tons of carcasses, of which about 150,000 are for ruminants (goats and sheep). Incineration involves a "high energy costs, economic and environmental consequences of the emission of gaseous pollutants and the inability of the natural recycling of these nutrients from wildlife."

... He says in an interview with Efe President of the Association for the Defence of Nature Caralluma, Bernardo Robles



Hence the importance, defends the expert, the contribution they can make the vultures to the problem of treating large amounts of carrion generated by farming.


A vulture free adult consumes around three kilos of meat per week, and it is estimated that the entire Spanish population of these birds consume about 10,000 tons.



According to Robles, who works with raptors scavenging since 1988, the incineration of animal waste such is the annual expense of 46 million of fuel oil, equivalent to energy produced by nuclear power Cofrentes for 21 days at full power or lighting 780,000 households.


Another advantage of using the vultures in this task lies in the recovery of the population of vultures, impaired following the adoption of various European and national legislation following the mad cow crisis.


Following these regulations, the farmer is obliged to report the death of their animals "came to be regarded as specified risk material" and burn, prohibiting its abandonment in the field.


"This really has been a disaster. The vultures are now dependent on some power supplies much less abundant, such as hunting or artificial feeding," says the expert.


In this context, Robles requested changes to the current management model that provides power management for carrion birds, including livestock insurance cheaper and even his "total withdrawal."


Today, the farmer pays an amount per head to cover the collection and processing of the body, "we support a new line of insurance that can benefit the mostly traditional ranching (and restricted to areas of champions vultures) so that they benefit from the activity of the birds. "


Finally, Robles describes as "surreal" that a sheep alive of 45 kilos have a wholesale price of 23 euros, and its destruction lies between 30 and 40 euros, "in other words it is more expensive to live a dead sheep."