ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TOM ANGLEBERGER THE ROANOKE TIMES
200 buzzards may be removed from Northern Virginia, but they aren't coming to the New River Valley.
Rumors that vultures, cougars, rattlesnakes and wolves are being shipped into the New River Valley are false, say state and federal officials.
However, some of the rumors are more closely grounded in reality than others.
The Giles County Board of Supervisors took the rumors seriously enough recently to discuss them and pass a resolution requesting that studies be done before any vultures are imported to the area.
In fact, some area in the state may soon receive a shipment of vultures from Leesburg, where persistent problems from wintering vultures have not been solved by traditional methods. However, those Northern Virginia buzzards will not be coming to the New River Valley, officials said.
"We've got 1,000 vultures in Radford, you don't need anymore," said Martin Lowney of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's animal and plant health inspection program.
According to figures supplied by Lowney, Montgomery County was second in the state in the number of vulture damage reports from 1994 through 1996.
Most of the damage is done by black vultures, who were held accountable for $165,124 in damage during that time. By comparison, turkey vultures and mixed flocks are only held responsible for $1,307 in damage.
The bulk of the damage is from attacks on livestock. While turkey vultures are simply scavengers, black vultures are scavengers and predators and have been known to attack livestock, especially newborn or sick animals.
The two types of vultures can be distinguished by size and coloration. Black vultures are smaller and have black heads; turkey vultures have red heads. Black vultures also have a white area near the wing tip.
Additional damage comes from vultures tearing up cars, boats and shingles as well as the unpleasant effects of vulture droppings. In a paper on the subject, Lowney notes that another effect is "a general feeling of doom when vultures congregate around the home."
Lowney deals with vulture complaints from all over the state and is helping Leesburg try to solve its problem.
He says about 200 vultures may be captured and removed from Leesburg. This will be the first vulture relocation in Virginia. Lowney says relocation is a last resort and that its effect on the vultures is unknown.
He says he has not decided where the vultures will go, but has already ruled out Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties, as well as all of Southside Virginia. Last week, officials in Lawrenceville, a small Southside town, reacted angrily when they thought their area was being considered. But Gary Huff, Leesburg's deputy town manager, told The Associated Press, "It'll be somewhere west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but they haven't identified where - and we're not asking.''
The New River Valley also has nothing to fear from relocated cougars or rattlesnakes, even though some people believe the U.S. Forest Service is shipping them in. In fact, if anyone was relocating these animals it would not be the Forest Service, it would be the Virginia's Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
No other organization can legally move these animals, said Regional Wildlife Manager Alan Boynton. His organization does not relocate them and has no plans to, he says.
"That's a persistent rumor, that the Game Department is stocking cougar or wolves or rattlesnakes," he says. He adds they do not move bobcats or coyotes, either.
"We do move bear ... when somebody is having a problem that can't be solved. We probably trap and move on the order of 10 or so bears a year," Boynton said. These bears are only moved when it is necessary to save their lives, he said. In these cases, the state tries to find a home for the bear where it will not cause new problems.
Tame deer and otters have also been relocated, he says. Tame deer have been moved, he said, because they can become dangerous as they grow larger and stronger.
The cougar has been completely eradicated from Virginia, he said, although it is possible that once-captive cougars have escaped or been released. He thinks that some cougar sightings may indeed be real, but the cougars are not wild.
If an escaped or released cougar is found, it is never re-released by the state, he said. Instead a home is found for it in a zoo. A once-captive cougar would not stand much chance in the wild, he said, especially if its owners had declawed or defanged it.
Rumors and stories about cougars are nothing new, he says. "The cougar was such a presence here to the early settlers, there's a lot of legend about it."
JAMES FRASER VIRGINIA TECH Some area in the state may soon receive a shipment of vultures from Leesburg.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: James Fraser/Virginia Tech. Some area in the state mayby CNBsoon receive a shipment of vultures from Leesburg. color.