In a quiet town in North Carolina, a community dispute has taken flight, with residents clashing over a peculiar avian phenomenon. At the center of this storm are Ken and Linda Ostrand, a couple with a deep appreciation for nature. Their fondness for the local vulture population has transformed their home in Hillsborough into a haven for these birds, drawing them in with offerings of meat scraps and carcasses.
While the Ostrands find joy in their daily visits from the vultures, not everyone shares their enthusiasm. Some neighbors have expressed frustration, complaining about the damage the birds cause to roof shingles with their sharp talons and the unsightly mess they leave behind on sidewalks.
This unusual conflict has been brewing for two years and has now escalated into a legal battle, as documented in a complaint reviewed by the Daily Mail. The Ostrands stand accused of creating a vulture magnet by continuously feeding the birds, thereby attracting more of them to their neighborhood.
On March 17, a group of concerned residents, with the backing of the Town of Hillsborough, filed a petition against the Ostrands. The complaint alleges that their actions have violated the Town Code by actively encouraging the birds to congregate in the area.
The Ostrands have been accused of ‘feeding scraps to the vultures, which lured more and more vultures to congregate at and near their property,’ the petition reads.
Filed March 17 by several residents represented by the Town of Hillsborough, the petition accuses the Ostrands of violating the Town Code by encouraging the birds.
The code ‘prohibits the feeding of wildlife or placing attractant material, such as food scraps, outdoors on public or private property for the purpose of feeding wildlife’.
The plaintiffs have asked a judge to direct the nature-loving couple to ‘cease and desist’ from ‘attracting’ the birds by leaving food out for them.
Ken and Linda Ostrand said they love the birds that visit their backyard in Hillsborough every day and often feed them scraps of leftover meat and carcasses
Residents in a sleepy North Carolina town are at war after a nature-loving couple encouraged hundreds of vultures to roost on their roof, causing chaos on the streets
Some of their neighbors aren’t as fond of their feathered friends, complaining that they damage roof shingles with their talons and pave the sidewalks in unsightly excrement. The vultures are pictured on the Ostrands’ home in a photograph included in the lawsuit
Dozens of vultures are pictured on the roof of the Ostrand’s home in the court filings.
The couple said the birds came with their home when they purchased it in 2017, attracted to the large yard on a sun-soaked south-facing slope surrounded by tall trees.
They began feeding the birds shortly after moving in when a deer died in the yard and they did not know how to dispose of it while workmen were building a fence.
‘One of the workmen found a dead deer in the back and he said, “What do you want me to do with it?” We weren’t quite sure what to do with it,’ Linda Ostrand told The Assembly.
‘They moved the carcass to where the vultures could get it and it was gone in a day. It was amazing how thorough they are.’
The Town of Hillsborough said it began receiving complaints from disgruntled neighbors around May 2024, their legal petition states.
Neighbor Michael Beanland, who moved next door to the couple with his wife in 2020, told the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners that the Ostrands told him the birds were migratory and not a permanent fixture at the home.
Beanland told the board that the vultures regularly spill over into his yard, where their talons have damaged his roof shingles and coated the pavement below in excrement.
Some of their neighbors aren’t as fond of their feathered friends, complaining that they damage roof shingles with their talons and pave the sidewalks in unsightly excrement. The vultures are pictured on the Ostrands’ home in a photograph included in the lawsuit
He added that he and his wife found leftovers from meals the Ostrands had left out for the birds, which included ‘things we don’t want our dog and our children coming in contact with,’ like meat trays from the supermarket and chicken bones.
Beanland said the situation reached a breaking point when he found several dead vultures in his yard in 2022 after they were struck down by disease.
The legal complaint filed by the Town of Hillsborough also outlines an alleged recent sighting of Ken Ostrand breaking the Town Code by feeding the vultures.
‘As recently as early February 2026, Mr Ostrand was observed placing some material, believed to be food scraps, on the ground at the property.
‘Moments after Mr Ostrand set out the food scraps, vultures swarmed the property to, presumably, feast on whatever food scraps Mr Ostrand had placed there.’
‘Mr and Mrs Ostrand have even given names to certain specific vultures which routinely appear at the property (and nearby properties) to feed and roost,’ the petition added.
The two-year dispute between the Ostrands and some of their neighbors escalated into a court battle earlier this year, a March 17 complaint seen by the Daily Mail shows
Ken Ostrand said they had desisted from feeding the birds, apart from two injured vultures which they did name.
‘One is Chester. If you’re a Gunsmoke fan, you’ll know that Chester has a bad leg, and in fact he can’t move it very well, but he can fly,’ he told The Assembly.
‘And the other one is Morticia. Morticia is unable to fly because of a bad wing, but they both recognize us to come around to try to get fed.’
Linda Ostrand, who ran a wildlife rehabilitation center on the outskirts of Hillsborough for several years, said that vultures are misunderstood creatures.
‘They’re nature’s garbage cleaners,’ she said.
‘I can understand that a lot of people don’t want them on their house because they’re not the most beautiful floaty little bird, but they do such a good job.’
