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Giant vulture attack in Tenerife!!
By Joe | October 30, 2008
Hellfire. Sounds like a B-movie title but apparently this is what happened at the splendid (and usually safe) Jungle Park in the hills above Los Cristianos.
A couple of ladies in their 50s were minding their own business watching the birds of prey show in the outdoor arena when a rather sturdy Griffin Vulture that was perched nearby decided it wanted to be part of the audience rather than the show. With a flap of its 3-metre wings it took a short flight onto Mary Corcoran’s shoulders to get a better view. Not a problem if the bird was a Canary, but a Griffin Vulture can weigh up to 2 stone, plus it’s talons are better suited to ripping up carcasses rather than keeping balance on a tourist’s sunburnt shoulders. Mary, understandably, screamed. The vulture, understandably, squawked. The handler, perhaps rather foolishly, thumped the bird and begrudgingly it took off but not before planting a few pecks on the other lady’s stomach.
‘I’m scared of birds now, said Mary, “you don’t think you are going to get attacked by them.”
According to the Daily Mail, a Jungle Park spokeswoman said, ‘The animals are free so we cannot control what they will do.”
Well, Mrs spokeswoman, perhaps you should think about controlling what they do. Not great publicity having one of your most lethal bombers assaulting a paying visitor, is it? Then, seemingly missing the point, she added (when she would have been better shutting up); “The keepers are working with them every day and have insurance for that.”
Oh… that’s okay then.
Topics: General musings, Inane rants, Tenerife, Writing Clips, Writing tips |
