Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Captain Huggin? The citizens of Lima, Peru have ten new heroes patrolling the city skies with super powers – 150 cm wingspan, ultrapowerful eyesight spotting waste from high in the sky, and corrosive stomach acids that can digest the most putrid meat.
These guardians of the city’s environmental health are black headed vultures, trained to carry GPS systems and cameras, and following their own instincts in unerringly targeting the mounds of rubbish that appear overnight around the city.
Lima inhabitants produce over 7000 tonnes of trash every day, but there are only two disposal tips when the city needs eight. Much of the waste is dumped in hidden corners of Lima, which tends to mean the poorest, least regulated areas. In 2014 the Lima Environmental Control Authority (OEFA) identified 29 informal dumps throughout the city.
The first birds were released in December, fitted with cameras and GPS systems. Alfredo Correa, from a Lima zoo, spent weeks training the birds – including Captain Huggin, Archi, Mayo and more – to carry the cameras without fear. “They are lovely birds. If you rear them from the nest and give them food, they think you are their father and mother and will always return.”
The vultures play an important role in eating up the corpses of dead animals, which would otherwise rot and spread disease. Red headed or turkey vultures are able to smell rotting flesh from distances greater than a kilometer, but black vultures use their keen eyesight, or follow red-headed vultures to a carcass.
Now the birds are flying over Lima, with their cameras, revealing the most filthy areas. On the ground, a team monitors their position. You can track their movements on the project web site at http://www.gallinazoavisa.pe/ . A video narrated by a vulture has over 400,000 hits on YouTube.
The intention, above all, is to raise awareness of the problem of rubbish for the citizens. Lima residents are encouraged to join the campaign by posting their own pictures of street rubbish on the web site.
“We want to to say to the people of Lima that whilst the city collects the garbage, it is up to them to recycle and not dump rubbish irresponsibly” explains Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal. “We hope the vulture will become an iconic figure in the campaign.”