Alderman Mickey Schneider told council on Feb. 27 that the vulture situation in town had become “exponentially worse,” and asked alderman Peg Adamson to present her research. Adamson said she looked into the situation because one citizen told her he was very disturbed by the increasing vulture population. She said the prescribed approach to removing vultures from their chosen habitat was to blast unbearably loud sounds during roosting periods for a week or two. This would also upset all other living creatures, and projections around the table were the vultures would just move to the next valley over.
Adamson did say vultures have been known to land on and nibble roofing shingles. She acknowledged the situation might make it hard for a person to sell a house in a vulture zone.
The good news, according to Adamson, is that vultures might migrate out of the area for a few months, although they will be back. She admitted she did not know an acceptable solution to the situation, but was only doing due diligence for a citizen’s concern.
Schneider pointed out vultures are a protected species and on private property. She said she did not know what to do either, but “the population is growing and “affecting property values and making people sick.”
After awhile, alderman David Mitchell observed, “We have no control over the situation, no jurisdiction, plus we can’t do anything about it, yet we sit here and discuss it.”
Vultures have been a seasonal problem in particular neighborhoods of Eureka Springs for years, causing public outcry and experimentation with numerous ineffective methods of solving the problem.