For the past month, a Southern Illinois family has been struggling with an unusual infestation of turkey vultures. Dozens of vultures are visiting their rural Buncombe home every single day, disturbing the family at odd hours and damaging their 2015 Chevrolet Silverado. The scavenging birds are also staining the entire area with their feces, and have completely ruined a newly built deck on the premises.

Rick Mize, who lives in the house with his wife, step-daughter, and their dog, said he isn’t sure how much it will cost to fix the damages. He revealed that the birds arrived at around the same time that a terrible stench enveloped the area surrounding their house. When asked to describe the smell, Rick said: “Ok, your cat died in your house and you found it five days later after being on vacation. And you walk into your house. That’s the stench, it’s just foul, death.” However, he hasn’t been able to locate any dead animals nearby.

Speaking about the vulture problem, Rick said: “Even the pictures doesn’t do it justice when you watch out and you see it,” adding that “They don’t land on my property to eat. They land on my property to rest and to scope.” Standing more than two-feet-tall with an average wing span of five and a half feet, vultures have virtually taken over the Mize family property.

Even though he hasn’t found it yet, Rick believes that there should be a large dead animal somewhere near the property that’s got the vultures acting crazy. He approached the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for help, and, after visiting the Maize home, official said that they might have located the root of the problem. An official explanation is yet to be released by authorities.

Photos: Rick Mize

Source: KPLC TV