4:29
Now researchers at Purdue University along with experts with the U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service are trying to understand the scale of the problem - and what can be done about it.
In an open field in Dubois County in southern Indiana, researcher Marian Wahl dragged the carcass of a stillborn calf off of her truck and into a patch of flattened grass.
“I feel slightly morbid but scientifically important is the entire research project I’ve got going on here,” said Wahl.
Not long after she placed the calf’s body within a ring of cameras that snap photos of any black vultures that land there, Wahl spotted them rising up from trees on the edge of the field.