How do you deal with a vulture in your house? Keep calm and carrion!

Torrevieja resident returns home to find huge bird of prey nestled on the sofa

It’s everyone’s nightmare to find squatters in their house, but what do you do if the uninvited guest happens to be a vulture?!

This was the dilemma faced by a shocked resident of Torrevieja last Thursday, October 24, when she came home to discover one of these magnificent creatures in her dining room.

Apparently it had fallen through the light well of the apartment block and decided to enter her flat, where it had nestled comfortably on the sofa.

The creature was a Eurasian griffon vulture, a species with a wingspan from 2.3 to 2.8 metres and weighing between six and 10 kilos.

She called the Local Police, who immediately sent a patrol from the force’s Environmental Unit.

The officers enlisted the help of the municipal stray animal collection service and the vulture was taken to the Municipal Animal Shelter, where it spent the night.

Then last Friday, personnel from the Valencia regional government’s wildlife recovery centre in Santa Faz (CRFS-Alicante) came and took the animal to its facilities for a check-up.

This involved examinations to determine if it was suffering from malnutrition or just exhaustion.

As long as they do not find any other significant health problems, the vulture will simply be fed and released back into the wild.

The Eurasian griffon vulture is a protected species and they tend to move away from the areas they were born or migrate at this time of year, according to municipal biologist Juan Antonio Pujol.

Sometimes they stop on the ground or on buildings, especially if they are juveniles or there is adverse weather, such as last Thursday when it was very windy.

Another example of the same species was spotted that same day perched on a crane in Torrevieja.

Images: Crónicas Naturales de Torrevieja / Facebook