News

Black vulture bill introduced in U.S. Senate

A group of Republican U.S. Senators has introduced a bill to make it easier for farmers and ranchers control black vultures.

Eric Schmitt from Missouri says “look, this is a problem. The black vulture is killing off valuable livestock and even though they have been designated as endangered, if the birds are endangering the livestock on people’s farms and ranches, they can handle that.”

It is illegal to kill a black vulture without a permit, because the birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The Black Vulture Relief Act amends the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and removes the permit requirement, allowing a producer or an employee of a producer to capture, kill and disperse of a black vulture when the bird is harming livestock. 

Davin Althoff with Missouri Farm Bureau says currently, MOFB is the only entity in Missouri allowed to issue sub-permits to farmers and ranchers for the control of black vultures. He tells Brownfield “it would certainly speed up the process for a livestock producers to be able to protect their livestock.”

Other U.S. Senators sponsoring the bill include Pete Ricketts from Nebraska, Tom Cotton from Arkansas and Bill Haggerty from Tennessee.

Missourinet contributed to this story.