Woman eaten by vultures: A woman has been eaten by vultures after falling to her death from a cliff in France. The woman, 52, was hiking in the Pyrenees with friends when she fell to her death. She fell for over 1,000 feet from the hiking trail. And in the 45 minutes it took rescue workers to find her, Griffon vultures had consumed her entire body.

Rescue workers were quickly alerted after the fall and combed the area for about 45 minutes to locate her body. By the time they reached it, however, it was too late to even recover the body. MSN reported that all that could be found was the woman's shoes, clothes, and a few bones.

Aggressive Griffon vultures are now increasingly problematic in France. In the past, they fed on livestock carcasses left by French farmers. In modern times, though, health regulations have changed, and it's currently illegal to leave animal carcasses out on the land. Therefore, the scavenging vultures have trouble finding food.

New regulations currently force farmers to burn any animals that die on farms. The authorities think this may contribute to why the 52-year-old woman was eaten by the vultures so quickly.

Major Didier Pericou told reporters that the rescue workers had noticed the vultures, but never considered that the birds would find the woman first. Vultures have now been the alleged source of many attacks that have killed livestock - over 40 farmers have now filed claims for government reimbursement of livestock the vultures have killed. The farmers aren't allowed to kill the bird because vultures are a protected species. But they're causing serious problems for French farmers and residents because their food sources are so depleted.

Some are calling for farmers to be allowed to shoot the aggressive vultures or be able to leave carcasses on their land rather than burning animals that die. This is the first verified report of a human being actually being eaten by vultures.