This scavengers’ hunt ended in hangovers
Pair of vultures wind up in rehab after dumpster dining on alcoholic fruit
With their broad wings, vultures soar high above in search of prey.
But after a night on the town, even vultures can be laid low.
A pair of black vultures helped themselves to alcoholsoaked cocktail fruit from a dumpster in Watertown, Conn., on April 7, leaving them “unable to stand,” according to Christine Cummings, director of A Place Called Hope, a rehabilitation center for birds of prey in Killingworth, Conn.
“We thought they were both actively dying,” Cummings said. “They would literally pass out and just be laying there breathing really shallow ... and then they would pop awake and act unruly, flailing and all of that.” (Vultures don’t usually draw a lot of sympathy, but this has to be an exception).
Animal control officer Emily Mosakowski said she found the first vulture at 8:30 a.m. and the second vulture about 20 feet away at 11 a.m.
“These vultures were in rough shape, no balance, unable to stand or fly,” the town’s animal control department wrote on Facebook.
The birds were brought to the rehabilitation center, where staff members were afraid they could have been poisoned or were suffering from “highly pathogenic avian influenza,” Cummings said.
But, after checking X-rays for lead shot fragments and testing them for diseases, they decided that the birds were not dying, Cummings said.
They just had a little too much fun.
“I said out loud to somebody, ‘They’re acting like they’re drunk,’” Cummings said. “Apparently, it happens.”
Her suspicions were correct. The birds were found on a street filled with bars and restaurants, and even a meat center, according to Mosakowski. The street has lots of dumpsters and the birds could have gotten into anyone of them, Mosakowski said.
Cummings said the dumpster the birds enjoyed did not have a secure lid, and it was filled with old meats and bar fruit from cocktail drinks. The birds helped themselves and paid the price, she said.
“They were basically falling on their faces like they were drunk, going in circles spinning, spreading their wings out, and flopping and flailing around,” Cummings said.
The birds were given plenty of fluids before they called it a night.