MADRID (Reuters):

Huge flocks of starving vultures have started attacking live animals in northern Spain, officials in the city of Burgos said yesterday.

In one incident, about 100 vultures killed a cow and her newborn calf, a rancher from the Mena Valley said, according to the Spanish government's office in Burgos, quoted by state news agency EFE.

Ranchers have complained that vultures started attacking livestock several months ago when a feeding station set up in the Ordunte mountains was closed by the neighbouring province of Vizcaya.

Vultures prefer to feed on the carcasses of dead animals, but carrion is scarce in modern Spain.