A BirdBrained Idea

WORLD Cup gamblers in South Africa who are presumably high on peyote have developed a fun new way to beat the bookies – smoking dried vulture brains.
The carrion-eating birds are supposed to gift people the power to predict match results so risk-taking punt monkeys have been rounding them up, stuffing them in a pipe and then popping down to Ladbrokes.
Conservationists believe the growth of ‘muti’ magic in South Africa ahead of the World Cup has seen a surge in poaching of Cape vultures, already at risk from lack of food and poisoning.
“The harvesting of the bird’s heads by followers of muti magic is an additional threat these birds can’t endure,” said Mark Anderson, of BirdLife South Africa.