(PARIS) -- In what French authorities are saying was the first known instance of this happening, a woman who slipped and fell off a hiking trail in the Pyrenees was devoured by vultures before rescuers could get to her body.
While the 52-year-old woman plunged more than 1,000 feet to her death, rescuers figured they had plenty of time to reach her corpse before it was disturbed.
Instead, all they found was a few bones, clothes and shoes that had belonged to her. Vultures were circling the area at the time of the accident but no one believed they would descend on the victim so quickly.
Vultures are becoming a big problem in France as farmers are forbidden from leaving animal carcasses on land for health reasons. Now instead, vultures are attacking livestock and to make things worse, they're a protected species in France so farmers can't retaliate.
Dwindling food supplies was probably why the ravenous vultures went after the hiker.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio