Adam Byrd: “I call attention to a news story that appeared in the Washington Post on February 19, 1994. The news story carries a…”

“I call attention to a news story that appeared in the Washington Post on February 19, 1994. The news story carries a headline ``Now Preying in Stafford: The Birds. Vultures Attack Pets, Terrorize Humans With Hitchcockian Menace.'' I will read excerpts from the story: With a loaded shotgun sitting next to her back door, Lynn O'Hara-Yates says she's living in terror of the dozens of black vultures that gather each morning on her back fence to stretch their wings, sharpen their talons and wait for lunch. When the first birds showed up in November, they were a curiosity. As their numbers multiplied, curiosity turned into concern despite assurances from state wildlife specialists and longtime residents that the huge birds wouldn't harm a living thing. In the last month, O'Hara-Yates has lost eight ducks from her pond, all of them picked clean to the bone. Her neighbor's cat, Stripe, was grabbed by the tail and carried 25 feet in the air for a distance of 100 yards. A vet stitched up the four talon holes in Stripe's body. Dogs and horses also have been attacked. ``It's a nightmare,'' said Stripe's owner, Jeude Barrett. ``And we can't do anything. . . . They have no fear.'' Vultures are federally protected animals and cannot be killed without a permit.”