Every year, a blight returns to central Iowa in the form of large numbers of migratory turkey vultures.

Many cities, including Perry, use dead turkey vultures as effigies to ward the birds away from certain trees. The Perry City Council recently re-applied for renewal of their Federal Migratory Bird Depredation Permit, which allows them to hang the effigies once again this year. City Administrator Sven Peterson says the Iowa Department of Natural Resources recommends the use of effigies. “A lot of communities have this same issue of turkey vultures in their community. And this is the best thing that they found, is to actually hang a dead turkey vulture in a tree. It’s a little gruesome, but it works. And I know the people in the neighborhoods that have the trees where the turkey vultures roost, it’s definitely worth the trade-off for them.”

The City is also continually looking for other solutions to the turkey vulture problem, because hanging effigies only moves the birds to other areas as opposed to out of the City entirely. Additionally, the effigies eventually decompose and fall out of the trees, which allows the vultures to return until a new one is put up. The Council brainstormed several other options, such as putting reflective materials in the trees, playing the sounds of a great horned owl, and even placing a robotic owl decoy in the trees.

In the meantime, Perry will continue to hang effigies for the foreseeable future.