Efficacy of an inflatable deterrent for reducing New World vulture human-wildlife conflict.

Increasing urbanization coupled with spatial expansion and numerical increase of New World vulture populations has engendered a rise in human-vulture conflict, creating a need for effective tools to mitigate vulture-related damage. Visual frightening devices that mimic the presence of human or other predators can be employed in human-vulture conflict scenarios to increase perceived risk by the pest species, thereby eliciting an antipredator behavioral response, such as fleeing. One visual frightening device, inflatable scarecrows, recently proved effective at reducing passerine attendance at feral swine feeders, but their effectiveness when directed at other species and conflict scenarios has varied. Our primary objective was to evaluate an inflatable deterrent for reducing the number of black (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) present (hereafter abundance) at 13 human-vulture conflict sites throughout the southeastern United States. We predicted that vulture abundance would be substantially reduced when inflatable deterrents were deployed. Because we suspected other factors might also influence vulture site abundance, we also examined the exploratory variables of weather, site size (area), and vulture tolerance to human approach in relation to vulture site abundance using a model selection approach. Black vulture site abundance was more pervasive than turkey vultures, occurring at all sites and accounting for 85% of daily vulture counts (10.78 ± 0.52 vultures/site/day) whereas turkey vultures were only present at 62% of sites (2.12 ± 0.21). Across all sites, inflatable scarecrows were effective at reducing vulture abundance by 82% during the seventeen-day treatment period when deterrents were deployed (3.50 ± 0.20), but only a 48% reduction during the twenty-one-day post-treatment phase (15.34 ± 1.39) was observed. Site size and weather did not influence tool effectiveness. Human tolerance at sites, as determined by vulture flight initiation distance, was influential, with tool effectiveness being reduced at sites where local human tolerance was high. We recommend inflatable scarecrows as a tool to reduce vulture-wildlife conflict to private property and recreation at sites where the conflict is spatially restricted (e.g., parking lot or recreation area), conducive to scarecrow deployment (e.g., flat stable surfaces), and where vulture site human tolerance is low to moderate.