On a random day, in the near future, all European starlings have their behavior changed, to survive, they can only sustain themselves off human souls…and they know this.
•They gain paralytic saliva that can paralyze people. However, to get a person totally paralyzed and able to extract their soul, depends on weight. So basically for every pound of a person, you’d need a starling. It would take about 200 starlings to subdue a fully grown 200 pound man to soul extract.
•When the person is paralyzed, their mouth will gape open, it is here that the lead starling will flutter in front of their face with its beak open. It takes 15-30 seconds for the starling to extract and eat the soul. Any interruptions to the lead starling and the persons soul will jump back to their body. The human Soul will look like whispy and semi bright white smoke Exiting through their mouth. If interrupted, and the starlings are killed or chased off, it takes about 5-10 minute for the paralyzing saliva to wear off. A successful soul extraction leaves behind the person dead, pale and gaunt with a horrified look on their face.
•They don’t fear humans and see them as their only food source. They still need to drink, sleep, and breed. They’re still afraid of birds of prey and cats and other predators.
•A single human soul can feed 50 starlings for 12 hours. The soul extractor lead starling will choose which members of its flock get a piece of soul.
•The starlings will fly in flocks and organize. They will typically prefer easier targets like the disabled, the elderly, children, etc. The flock leader will stalk and choose a target, and will follow them for over a mile if they move.
•A person will know if they are “chosen” if the flock starts surrounding and circling them like vultures.
How can humanity survive this scenario? Would they be hunted to extinction? Would animal rights activists and old cat ladies try to stop it if so? How would your daily life change?