{"id":627601,"date":"2026-05-06T21:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/627601\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:31:08","slug":"national-park-service-seeks-publics-help-after-33-black-vultures-found-dead-in-smokies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/627601\/","title":{"rendered":"National Park Service seeks public&#8217;s help after 33 black vultures found dead in Smokies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (WLOS) \u2014 The National Park Service is asking for the public\u2019s help after 33 black vultures were found dead in Great Smoky Mountains National Park last month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/news\/local\/national-park-service-clear-storm-hurricane-helene-debris-reduce-wildfire-risk-blue-ridge-parkway-summer-2026-visitors-brp-community-meetings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HELENE DEBRIS REMOVAL PROJECT ON BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY TO BEGIN THIS SUMMER: NPS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Rangers discovered the dead vultures around noon on April 6, 2026, along Foothills Parkway West, according to park officials. Rangers determined the birds had been dumped.<\/p>\n<p>Park officials said black vultures are federally protected under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/law\/migratory-bird-treaty-act-1918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Migratory Bird Treaty Act<\/a>, which makes it illegal to harm or kill them without a permit. Dumping anything in a national park is also illegal.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/news\/local\/new-tennessee-wildlife-plan-approved-targets-at-risk-species-before-theyre-endangered-tennessee-wildlife-action-plan-2025-swap-endangered-species-prevention-tn-twra-conservation-strategy-habitats-us-fish-wildlife-approval-tn-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NEW TENNESSEE WILDLIFE PLAN APPROVED, TARGETS AT-RISK SPECIES BEFORE THEY&#8217;RE ENDANGERED<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>The National Park Service is asking the public for information that may be useful to investigators. Anyone who was on the Foothills Parkway between Chilhowee and Walland on April 6 is asked to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/common\/utilities\/sendmail\/sendemail.cfm?o=6CB7E896A2F7A6AF84BA07ACF137A5BD55D341804A&amp;r=\/grsm\/learn\/news\/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-seeks-tips-to-identify-suspect-in-illegal-vulture-dumping.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> email officials<\/a>. Anyone with dashcam video or photos, or other helpful information, is also asked to reach out. Individuals may remain anonymous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (WLOS) \u2014 The National Park Service is asking for the public\u2019s help after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-627601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}