Bird of Peace

 The vulture, for some reason, is evil to the eyes of this modern culture. Just because it feeds on the dead, just because it  soars before those who died.
 

It is rather unfair to show such a magnificent, noble bird as evil. The  vulture does not kill for food, the vulture cleans the Earth from the  illness of death, of the carcasses that lie on the mountain, savanna,  desert, scrub. On Eurasia, Africa and the Americas, two families of  unrelated birds called vultures do this job of purifying the world of  diseases, and yet people wish them nothing but harm.
 

The vulture was recognized as the bird of peace by many cultures, as it  never kills. On North America, it was considered holier than the wolf or  the eagle, animals now seen as the favored totems, a bringer of light to the Hopi; on Ancient Egypt it was  Mut, the mother goddess and the "chicken of the pharaoh", considered an  all female species and sacred to the gods, so none could hunt them. Many  were the gods associated with the vulture; in Greek Mythology the great  Apollo had the vulture as one of his symbols, and so did his  half-brother Ares, the god of war, albeit as an unpleasant symbol. Even Ahura Mazda had a positive connection with vultures: in  Zoroastrianism part of the rituals done to the corpse involve letting it  be consumed by vultures before cremation. The same applies to Buddhism.
 

As a symbol of so many positive things, the vulture's role in the world  deserves being recognized. It is a main scavenger, and the absence of  vultures in India led to the rise in dog numbers, which brought diseases  like rabies as well as leopards that prey on people. Hence, "man's best  friend" has caused more evil than the noble vulture, who is demonized by  us now.
 

And really, do you consider animals such as lions and wolves as noble,  while vultures are dirty cowards? Though they too have roles in their world, from our perspective, who despises murder and strives for peace, it is a hypocritical statement.