In the last days of July the conservation NGO “Colectivo Azálvaro” have found at least 6 black vultures dead near the waste treatment plant ETRSU de Urraca Miguel, near Ávila.
The vultures were found dead in a period of less than a week, and some were in an advanced state of decomposition. Although the results of the toxicological analyses are still unknown, it was obvious the vultures had died from “unnatural” causes – the most likely from ingestion of plastic, as there were rests of plastic near the decomposed bodies. Plastic can cause suffocation, gastric obstruction or intoxication by the plastic compounds.
Black vultures have been slowly increasing in range and population in Spain, where there are now over 2000 breeding pairs, but the species remains threatened and fragile.
