Speaker 1: Good morning, Welcome to the Big Outdoors News Radio seven
Speaker 1: hundred WLW Cincinnati, the home of the best Bengals coverage
Speaker 1: and of course the Cincinnati Reds and basketball basketball basketball.
Speaker 1: I'm not even a basketball fan. I don't even understand
Speaker 1: the game, but there are a lot of people to do,
Speaker 1: and we have a lot of it around this town,
Speaker 1: which is great to carry people through.
Speaker 2: At least the first quarter of the year.
Speaker 1: So recently in the news in this neck of the
Speaker 1: woods down here in Cincinnati, we had a die off
Speaker 1: of the black vultures and Amelia at I forget the
Speaker 1: name of the Catholic school, but nonetheless, it's just coincidentally.
Speaker 1: It already scheduled this gentleman to be with me to
Speaker 1: talk about the black vulture, which I guess it has
Speaker 1: now an very expanded range. But nonetheless, it was just
Speaker 1: something I wanted to get to because it's been affecting
Speaker 1: There's a lot of issues with the livestock industry and
Speaker 1: various other sundry other I guess groups are out there
Speaker 1: that are out there and they're much more noticeable of
Speaker 1: course on our roadways, cleaning up the deer we hit
Speaker 1: and the possum we hit the raccoons, we hit the rabbits,
Speaker 1: we hit and everything else. And you got to have
Speaker 1: a breakfast club out there, quite frankly, to you know, clean.
Speaker 2: Up the mass. So but I bring in Tommy Butler.
Speaker 1: He is an assistant direct to a District Supervisor with
Speaker 1: the USDA Wildlife Services here in the Southern District, Ohio. Tommy,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the big outdoors. And how are you.
Speaker 3: Well? How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing fantastic.
Speaker 1: So we met at the Farm Science Review, which is
Speaker 1: big agricultural events sponsored by OSU up.
Speaker 2: In the London, Ohio.
Speaker 1: And and you were there with the USDA, and you
Speaker 1: had a couple of brochures out on the table. One
Speaker 1: that caught my eye was on the black vulture damage.
Speaker 1: So if you could, and I think I had some
Speaker 1: me on from University of Kentucky a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago we talked about the black vulture. But they certainly
Speaker 1: have become more apparent, or maybe it's because I've gotten
Speaker 1: a different appreciation for our breakfast club out there. But nonetheless,
Speaker 1: they were they were never I guess native to this area.
Speaker 1: They they I guess had their range has expanded from
Speaker 1: South America, and I guess the southern States into into
Speaker 1: this part of Ohio.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, So you know, black vultures weren't necessarily super
Speaker 4: concentrate here in state of.
Speaker 3: Ohio for a long time.
Speaker 4: They're there's been sightings of black vultures in Ohio for
Speaker 4: one hundred years or so. Okay, in the last in
Speaker 4: the last twenty years or so is when we started to,
Speaker 4: you know, see that population really expand. And now here
Speaker 4: in the state of Ohio you can find black vultures
Speaker 4: basically in any county in the state. I'll say, you know,
Speaker 4: Southwest Ohio certainly had probably has the most, but nobody's
Speaker 4: out there, you know, counting them. We don't have an
Speaker 4: exact number or anything like that. That's just kind of
Speaker 4: observation on my part. But yeah, right, there's a ton
Speaker 4: of black vultures in Ohio. Now.
Speaker 1: So the turkey vulture, which was our prevalent vulture since
Speaker 1: I mean since I can remember, and they apparently do
Speaker 1: migrate south and when does that kind of start. But
Speaker 1: you know, even this past summer or in the last
Speaker 1: fifteen years, I've not seen the numbers of turkey vultures
Speaker 1: that we used to. And it's like they were overtaken
Speaker 1: by the by the black vulture.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't. So he reports that, you know, theory
Speaker 4: that maybe black vultures are displacing turkey vultures, and I
Speaker 4: don't see a whole lot of evidence of it. I
Speaker 4: think what really happens is is black vultures are.
Speaker 3: Here in Ohio year round.
Speaker 4: So it seems like there's more of them because we
Speaker 4: see them year round, where the turkey vulture in Ohio
Speaker 4: is pretty pretty like clockwork with with their migration here.
Speaker 4: So they usually migrate out of the state right around Halloween,
Speaker 4: first week in November, depending on where you're at, and
Speaker 4: they usually come back in you know, late February, early March,
Speaker 4: so they're gone for several months and then we were
Speaker 4: left with black vultures.
Speaker 2: And so a pair.
Speaker 1: But is was climate change the reason for their range
Speaker 1: expansion or is there really no reason that anybody could
Speaker 1: put a finger on.
Speaker 4: There's there's a few theories, and there's kind of a
Speaker 4: several theories on why they've expanded. Warmer winners could certainly,
Speaker 4: you know, you could point that direction. They're a southern bird,
Speaker 4: it's a little bit warmer, you know. You one would
Speaker 4: think that would be helpful for them, but I think
Speaker 4: more importantly would be habitat So they are a woodland
Speaker 4: edge species. They do like the forest. They roost in trees,
Speaker 4: so over time, you know, Ohio has become more forested
Speaker 4: after you know, initial European settlement and then the fanning
Speaker 4: of DDT. Yeah, the infect side was bad for birds,
Speaker 4: and so you know, they can play on eggs now
Speaker 4: and have successful nests. And of course they are protected
Speaker 4: by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so they are afforded
Speaker 4: some protection by the US Fish.
Speaker 1: And Wildlife, but not in all instances. And we'll get
Speaker 1: to that after the break. But I also want to
Speaker 1: just bring in a little discussion about the die off
Speaker 1: of Amelia, and we'll do that at the end, but
Speaker 1: I want to want to talk about, actually, you know
Speaker 1: what what kind of damage the black vultures do and
Speaker 1: you know, I guess what communities it really affects. Chip
Speaker 1: Hard The Big Outdoors News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati
Speaker 1: back in a moment.
Speaker 2: Hey, we're back the.
Speaker 1: Big Outdoors News Radio seven hundred l W Cincinnati, home
Speaker 1: and the best Bengals coverage in the Cincinnati Reds And
Speaker 1: with me this morning is Tommy Butler, Assistant District super
Speaker 1: for the us DA under Wildlife Services. And so Tommy,
Speaker 1: for those out there, we'll get to the Amelia die
Speaker 1: off in a bit, but for those out there, what
Speaker 1: kinds of problems uh that you know, do does the
Speaker 1: black vulture create? Which I guess the turkey vulture was
Speaker 1: never much of a problem in that in that same respect,
Speaker 1: So and then that involves you guys with the USDA
Speaker 1: under Wildlife Services. So so what what issues are they
Speaker 1: you know, do they create for the various communities out there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, here in Ohio we kind of split it into
Speaker 4: two categories of black vulture damage. The first being property damage.
Speaker 4: So black vultures when they congregate in these large roofs
Speaker 4: and stuff, they can they can cause damage to things
Speaker 4: like rubber roofs, vehicles, whether they're stripping on windows, whether
Speaker 4: it be cars or houses.
Speaker 3: Things like that.
Speaker 4: Soft things they like picking it rubber and plastic and
Speaker 4: that can cause roof damage and people can get you know,
Speaker 4: pretty big damage bills for for black vulture damage.
Speaker 3: So that's one.
Speaker 4: Category and which I help people with often.
Speaker 3: The other category is livestock.
Speaker 4: So black vultures will kill young livestock basically while they're
Speaker 4: being born or shortly thereafter. So it's a it's a
Speaker 4: it can be a big hit to you know, local
Speaker 4: farmers livestock industry when we're you know, while livestock's prices
Speaker 4: are high right now, so it's a big loss to
Speaker 4: lose like a calf for example.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 4: That's how we split it up in the in the
Speaker 4: livestock and property. And we do have a unique situation
Speaker 4: with the livestock program and that we can help people
Speaker 4: give them you know what we call technical assistance, give
Speaker 4: them advice on what they can do.
Speaker 3: On the farm to help prevent the black.
Speaker 4: Vultures, but also that can get elevated at the point
Speaker 4: where we can help them get permits to lethally remove
Speaker 4: some vultures.
Speaker 2: Are you getting more call? Are the calls coming?
Speaker 1: Say, the number of calls vary depending on where what
Speaker 1: part of the state you might be in, or I guess,
Speaker 1: in that case of livestock, depending on you know, what
Speaker 1: counties are heavily born into livestock than crops.
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty five, I think we've done you know,
Speaker 4: livestock permits for people in over.
Speaker 3: Half of ohioest counties real heavy.
Speaker 4: I think the most permits we've had are not too
Speaker 4: far from Cincinnati there in Highland County is kind of
Speaker 4: ground zero for a lot of permits, and it's kind
Speaker 4: of due to there's a lot of vultures in Highland
Speaker 4: County and there's a lot of livestock in Highland County,
Speaker 4: so when you put those two things together, it leads
Speaker 4: to conflict. Adams County is another one, kind of down
Speaker 4: the area that the kind of same boat as Highland
Speaker 4: County move over to the eastern part of the state.
Speaker 4: Jackson is another one, and then I think Guernsey County
Speaker 4: would kind of be that top four, top five counties
Speaker 4: here in the state.
Speaker 3: But anywhere from the Ohio River clear up to.
Speaker 4: Lake Erie, we've helped people get permits.
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 1: I guess being more living, I live more rurally these
Speaker 1: days than anything else, and I'm seeing more and more
Speaker 1: And maybe that's because of obviously I'm out with the
Speaker 1: lot where the livestock are contrary when I grew up
Speaker 1: or even up to fifteen years ago, so maybe that's
Speaker 1: why I'm noticing more. But nonetheless, the flock seemed to
Speaker 1: be fairly large size in comparison to what the turkey
Speaker 1: vultures used to be. I mean, these things flock in
Speaker 1: huge numbers.
Speaker 4: They do flock in larger numbers than turkey vultures do
Speaker 4: a lot of times when people see turkey vultures, they
Speaker 4: do flock, but you know, you might see something like
Speaker 4: six or ten turkey ballltures where black vultures will congregate
Speaker 4: up into the hundreds. And in fact, this time of
Speaker 4: year is when we do see those big, you know,
Speaker 4: congregations and flocks here in the wintertime. Often they're in
Speaker 4: municipalities around the state, so kind of the county seat
Speaker 4: that the town county seat tends to have a big
Speaker 4: flock of them, And those are those when they get
Speaker 4: together like that, and those big flocks, damage can happen.
Speaker 1: Well, I would imagine the heat from a particular town,
Speaker 1: like take Batavia for instance, or or hillsbro does the
Speaker 1: does the heat off of town attract them? I just
Speaker 1: kind of just looks like because they're on the buildings
Speaker 1: and you know in cold weather, is that I'm just.
Speaker 4: Nuts now, I don't know if that's a I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think the things that I see of that are
Speaker 4: roost attributes for for black vultures are kind of high points.
Speaker 3: They like being on cell.
Speaker 4: Phone towers, water towers, large buildings. Often we'll see them
Speaker 4: in reachedon pine trees, like on top of the hill
Speaker 4: for example. So you know there's a there's a patch
Speaker 4: of pine trees in a town that's on you know,
Speaker 4: on a high point. Often that's a good area to
Speaker 4: find them. God.
Speaker 1: Well, you know here I thought they were keeping an
Speaker 1: eye on all the politicians in the communities. You know,
Speaker 1: just just the thought. That's my thought, Tommy, not yours,
Speaker 1: I know. Anyway, Sit tight, We got more to come.
Speaker 1: The Big Outdoors News Radio seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati back
Speaker 1: in the Mommy.
Speaker 2: The iHeartRadio app seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: Hey, we're back the Big Outdoors News Radio, seven hundred WLW, Cincinnati, Chippark.
Speaker 1: My guest is Tommy Butler, and he is with the
Speaker 1: us DA under their Wildlife Services Division here in southwest Ohio.
Speaker 1: Been talking to black vulture and so Tommy, uh, just
Speaker 1: to recap your responsibility is is what as far as
Speaker 1: you're out there, you're working with the people that have
Speaker 1: issues with this particular bird.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, big picture with USDA Wildlife Services here in
Speaker 4: Ohio is our our you know, mission or goal is
Speaker 4: is to help you know, we provide federal leadership in
Speaker 4: human wildlife conflict resolution. So we're out there just trying
Speaker 4: to help people are having conflict with wildlife. As far
Speaker 4: as black vultures go. You know, we're doing just that
Speaker 4: in southern Ohio and the rest of the state. You know,
Speaker 4: when conflict arises, one of the things we do is
Speaker 4: is we provide advice on you know, how to how
Speaker 4: to help resolve these problems, how to lessen damage is
Speaker 4: kind of.
Speaker 3: How we're driven.
Speaker 4: So that goes you know to like I said with
Speaker 4: the livestock stuff, is helping farmers you know, make decisions
Speaker 4: on farming practices that can help produce that. For example,
Speaker 4: parcass management's very important with with black vultures. You know,
Speaker 4: on the farm, things die and what they do, they
Speaker 4: need to be disposed up properly so we don't make
Speaker 4: the farm attractive to our scavenger black vultures.
Speaker 3: Husbandry issues too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just gonna say that that could be. That
Speaker 2: could be tough.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it can be tough. It's it's it can be
Speaker 4: difficult to man. It's but it's important. You know, you
Speaker 4: kind of you can branch that out to you know,
Speaker 4: having carcasses on the farm there can be attractive to
Speaker 4: other predators like coyotes things like that. So it's an
Speaker 4: important aspect of of of of what they do on
Speaker 4: the farm. The other thing is husbandry stuff with you know,
Speaker 4: the way they cave so a lot and I'm kind
Speaker 4: of you know, heavy on the cattle here because a
Speaker 4: lot of.
Speaker 3: This stuff there is cattle driven.
Speaker 4: But uh, you know, heifer cabin for the first time
Speaker 4: that you know, they don't know what they're doing. It's
Speaker 4: their first time doing it.
Speaker 3: It can take a long time.
Speaker 4: They can have a calf and kind of walk away
Speaker 4: and when that happens, predators key in on that and
Speaker 4: black valters do as well. So you know, keeping those
Speaker 4: those first time you know us or or heifer's that
Speaker 4: are you know, layman or cabin the first time. Putting
Speaker 4: those things in the barn is a really good way
Speaker 4: to kind of head off your vaulture damage.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, and so people can just go to you
Speaker 1: uh just just uh, I guess doing uh internet search
Speaker 1: for us d A Wildlife Services for a particular area
Speaker 1: and up you guys will come right, Yeah, you can.
Speaker 4: You can do Google search US. If you call one
Speaker 4: eight six six for U. S. D A W S.
Speaker 4: That phone number will route you to to our state
Speaker 4: office and then we can get you get you in
Speaker 4: touch with the right person depending on the subject matter
Speaker 4: you're dealing with. All Right, that number work, go ahead,
Speaker 4: that number of work throughout the country, the whole country.
Speaker 3: That number will get you where you need to go
Speaker 3: for the state you're in.
Speaker 1: Fantastic, Okay, now we gotta we'll switch gears a little bit.
Speaker 2: Talk about Amelia and the die off at uh.
Speaker 1: It was a Catholic school I think a week ago
Speaker 1: thereabouts of what like seventy black vultures, which being a
Speaker 1: flock bird. Where what is the current status on that
Speaker 1: as as you know it to be.
Speaker 4: Yeah, as far as I know, I think the Division
Speaker 4: of Wildlife kind of took the lead on sampling those.
Speaker 4: I think the samples were taken and I think they're
Speaker 4: sent up to the Higher Department of Agriculture up in
Speaker 4: Reynoldsburg and they were tested for hypatha Avian influenza. Uh.
Speaker 4: It turned out to be a non negative is what
Speaker 4: they call it. So then that that then those samples
Speaker 4: then get forwarded to uh NVSL, which is kind of
Speaker 4: a feed USDA apist our our lab that just tests
Speaker 4: samples like this. So I think we haven't heard back
Speaker 4: if it's been confirmed by NVSL, but it.
Speaker 3: Presumed it was high path avian influenza.
Speaker 1: We had a die off in a couple of lakes
Speaker 1: that like East Fork Lake and Caesar's Creek earlier. I
Speaker 1: guess reports from fishermen and so forth to I guess it.
Speaker 1: Apparently something went through the population.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Avian influenza is out in the environment.
Speaker 3: Wild birds carry it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then of course sometimes it turns high path
Speaker 4: and people are not people, but it spreads through wild
Speaker 4: population affects them and there can be die offs.
Speaker 3: We see it.
Speaker 4: We see it when this high path a eye flares up,
Speaker 4: kind of this time of year.
Speaker 1: Well, Tommy Butler, reappreciate your time this morning, and we'll
Speaker 1: hopefully get a follow up and not too distant future
Speaker 1: on everything.
Speaker 2: Vulture appreciate it. Good talking to you, all right, thanks
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 1: We got to hit a break the Big Outdoors News
Speaker 1: Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati back in the morning and
Speaker 1: Gary Jeff of course we'll be up at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the hour and him and the cast of characters
Speaker 1: and every other Nitwick we can take care of everything
Speaker 1: throughout the day along with all the sports. Gerbils just
Speaker 1: going crazy around here, and it's it's kind of fun
Speaker 1: to watch. It is their time of year, you know,
Speaker 1: and their kind of sour pusses, you know. But then
Speaker 1: there's good reason. Okay, I'll leave it at that. Here
Speaker 1: we are with the numbers for everybody that's got to
Speaker 1: know how much how many week killed? So Ohio hunters
Speaker 1: took twenty three and forty nine an opening day. The
Speaker 1: season total for the week of gunn was at eighty
Speaker 1: seven thousand, one hundred and ninety one total. Harveston, Ohio
Speaker 1: is currently as of earlier in the week, one hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty eight thousand, two hundred and ninety one.
Speaker 2: White Tails.
Speaker 1: Kentucky, you guys did pretty good one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: thousand and nine hundred as of earlier this week.
Speaker 2: And in Indiana, you.
Speaker 1: Guys over here, you Hoosiers, are at one hundred and
Speaker 1: nineteen thousand, nine hundred and twenty two.
Speaker 2: So in some total we're almost.
Speaker 1: Nearer a half million deer taken, and that's a lot
Speaker 1: of innocent, gonna be a lot of sausage, a lot
Speaker 1: of jerky, and maybe some good old Pennsylvania bologney. So
Speaker 1: with that, everybody be safe out there, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: fill that freezer with whatever it is. Duck rabbit, I
Speaker 1: don't care, Chip Hart, the Big Outdoors News Radio, seven
Speaker 1: hundred WLW, Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: Be safe in the woods, safe on the water, and
Speaker 2: safe in that trees.