A radio tower of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is located near the Texas-Mexico border, has become home to 300 vultures. Both inside and out, as well as the ground below, the vultures have covered the entire structure’s surface with “droppings mixed with urine.” These droppings proved to be troublesome for the tower, as well as for the workers in that place.
A smoothly-functioning communications network is essential for CBP officers to do their jobs. The agencies under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security, of which CBP is one, have suffered from radio problems in the past.
The birds in the Texas tower have been roosting there for more than six years, a CBP spokesperson told Quartz, adding, “They will often defecate and vomit from their roost onto buildings below that house employees and equipment…
As a defense, vultures “regurgitate a reeking and corrosive vomit,” explains a factsheet from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This kills bacteria on the birds’ legs, but also eats away at the metal in radio towers, reducing the life of the structure and making it unsafe for the maintenance workers who climb it. Vulture droppings can also carry a range of diseases such as histoplasmosis, salmonella, and encephalitis.
Find out more about this story over at Quartz.
(Image Credit: US Customs and Border Protection)
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