Vultures help combat illegal garbage dumps in Peru
- 8 years ago
Doing their best to clean up their reputation – vultures equipped with cameras have become the main protagonists of a creative social media campaign aimed at raising awareness about illegal rubbish dumps in Lima.
Besides its four official landfill sites, the Peruvian capital has numerous illegal dumps, where an estimated 20 percent of its trash ends up – an open-air environmental and health hazard.
“We have ten vultures wearing satellite transmitters equipped with a GPS. We also have a bigger group of vultures, just over 20, that are only equipped with a wing tag. In all, the project is scheduled to last two years,” explains vulture trainer Alfredo Correa.
The vultures are the perfect bird to take on such a task. No preparation was needed: the birds flock naturally to the landfill sites to feed. They have been trained to fly back to their keepers after each outing. The video footage is then posted online.
A TV and radio campaign has been launched to promote the programme, w
Besides its four official landfill sites, the Peruvian capital has numerous illegal dumps, where an estimated 20 percent of its trash ends up – an open-air environmental and health hazard.
“We have ten vultures wearing satellite transmitters equipped with a GPS. We also have a bigger group of vultures, just over 20, that are only equipped with a wing tag. In all, the project is scheduled to last two years,” explains vulture trainer Alfredo Correa.
The vultures are the perfect bird to take on such a task. No preparation was needed: the birds flock naturally to the landfill sites to feed. They have been trained to fly back to their keepers after each outing. The video footage is then posted online.
A TV and radio campaign has been launched to promote the programme, w