@Arizona Docent I feel bad for this bear the vultures simply mess with him because they are bored and it's learned to ignore them. But hey that's some different enrichment for the bear
The first time I visited this zoo (been there a few times) I thought it was bizarre that many black vultures constantly congregated in the bear exhibit (and other exhibits to a lesser extent). I am not sure what zoo staff can do, but they need to do something to push the birds away.
@Arizona Docent There was a sign talking about what they tried to do, including making fake effigies to hang around, but vultures are smarter than that. They got permission to euthanize 25 of them to deter them, but clearly that also didn't work. I believe they have just given up.
Beardsley Zoo has a similar problem with these vultures. They tend to congregate around the tigers and otters, but most of all around the eagles. They pester the eagles and try to steal their food.
@BeardsleyZooFan In Waco it is almost entirely concentrated around the bears. Sometimes the flamingo exhibit will have more black in it than pink, and there's usually a group that will hang around the exhibit that keeps an injured vulture.
