Woman Eaten By Vultures

[markss]

Never did quite trust those lurking birds circling overhead ...


http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/05/06/Woma ... 367867144/

 

[Trudy]

Ummm, have to say that sort of thing has crossed my mind. In 2006, walking towards Villamayor de Monjardin, I stopped for a break and just stood watching the birds high above me. After a few minutes of standing still, I realised they were circling me and getting closer and closer. What I took to be eagles were, in fact, vultures. A couple of hours later arriving pilgrims mentioned they had seen vultures devouring a dead sheep in much the same area I'd been in.

Food for thought there? Sorry, not a very good pun! But we do tend to forget that, while we think we are invincible and better than other creatures, we are just part of the food chain.

Trudy

EDIT: Perhaps I should point out that vultures only eat dead creatures, they are not going to pounce on unsuspecting pilgrims!

 

[RENSHAW]

OH MY GOSH!!!!! That's a bit scary. :shock:

Poor Vultures get all the blame , next thing you know , they will be against ants ..well they eat the dead as too? :mrgreen:

 

[NicoZ]

If you don't want to be eaten plan on never dying.

Or you could get even and have roast vulture for dinner :mrgreen:

 

[ffp13]

OH MY GOSH!!!!! That's a bit scary. :shock:

Poor Vultures get all the blame , next thing you know , they will be against ants ..well they eat the dead as too? :mrgreen:

Don't forget the maggots

 

[David]

Carrion eaters - top Camino tip: don't become dead :wink:

 

[Tincatinker]

High in the Picos de Europa, in a broad sink hole, I fell asleep watching a Wall Creeper. I awoke to a Griffon Vulture watching me.

Pilgrims are advised to twitch occasionally, that Griff wasn't going to come any closer until it was sure I was dead. They will wait for a fox or a crow to succeed in getting a mouthful before they will risk an injury to those impressive wings.

 

[Jennifer Juniper]

As intimidating as the image of being eaten by vultures(what Buddhists call sky burial) can be, we need to remember that without vultures, crows,foxes, and in the oceans,sharks and shellfish, the planet would be overwhelmed with decaying flesh and garbage.Carrion eaters are the earth's 'sanitation engineers'and we owe them a debt of thanks for keeping the planet clean. I heard recently that if all the sharks were hunted and became extinct,there would be so much garbage in the ocean that you wouldn't be able to see more than a foot ahead of you underwater.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."Eccles.

 

[WildPlace]

I have a Gibraltarian friend who is an ornithologist and says "oh, when i die just take me out into Spain and let the vultures eat me, so i can be returned to nature". I think he is only half joking...

 

[oursonpolaire]

@SisterSimon-- I think it's the Parsees, not the Buddhists, who go for sky burial. There are interesting articles in the New York Times from last year on the effect of urban expansion on this practice.

However, your basic points stand. I used to wonder if this was how Carrion de los Condes got its name, but have since been corrected.

 

[Jennifer Juniper]

You may well be right- I'm probably thinking of a Tibetan sect near Nepal that I visited. They practice Buddhism, but in a more cloistered environment that leans towards the most ancient practices, having more than exclusively Buddhist influences. Place names are fascinating,aren't they?So often you find areas named for very old practices that occurred there. Sky Burial is a much more hygenic option in places where its impossible to dig graves.Even burial pyres leave remains that in some climates can transmit disease-and I find that a more distressing thought than an environmentally sound practice that "recycles" what is no longer needed.
Still, to each his own . Certainly its normal for some cultures to be shocked or even repelled by the funerary customs of others.In some faiths its shocking to wait more than a day to dispose of the deceased, and for others its incomprehensible to keep aside acres of arable land for burials.