JACKSONVILLE — A Jacksonville church's plan to use a dead vulture to ward away the live ones seems to be working.

Bethlehem Baptist Church contracted with the U.S. Agriculture Department to use vulture effigies to ward away live birds that were destroying the church roof.

The effigies are a taxidermist-prepared vulture body attached to a decoy head because real bird heads disintegrate too quickly.

The dead bird went up about a month ago. Vultures that used to flock to the church roof now hang out elsewhere.

The USDA also has used bird effigies to reduce the potential for bird strikes on military planes, including at New River and Cherry Point air stations. The USDA hung effigies from the water towers in Jacksonville and Havelock.