For several months, a flock of more than a hundred black vultures has settled atop Opelika Middle School in east Alabama. They peer down at students as they arrive, soar in lazy spirals over soccer practice, and streak the field’s floodlights with feces.

Despite administrators’ best efforts, the birds keep coming back, unnerving some students who have to walk past a gauntlet of vultures every day.

In response to a nuisance report from the school superintendent, a local U.S. Department of Agriculture representative recommended shooting several of the birds and hanging their corpses upside-down in nearby trees. These “effigies” swinging in the wind should serve as a warning to the rest of the flock to steer clear, the USDA representative said,