AWENDAW, S.C. (CBS Charlotte) - In an effort to stave off the dangers facing the vulture population in the United States, the Center for Birds of Prey has adopted the international practice of “vulture restaurants,” where the birds can dine on facility-provided animal carcasses and humans can watch.

The aim of the initiative is two-fold – to help promote vulture survival in America while also educating people about the values of vultures, the Charleston Post and Courier is reporting.

“Mostly, it’s an education tool for us,” Center education director Stephen Schabel told the paper. “It’d be great to see a societal change where every community has a vulture restaurant to get rid of roadkill.”

In African and Asian nations, the restaurants were reportedly created about five years ago to steer vultures away from poisoned wildcats and cattle or sheep treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, respectively.

American vultures allegedly suffer similar fates due to feeding on rotting animals in landfills and being hit by cars while dining on roadkill, the paper additionally learned from the Center.