Vultures, GPS Tracking, and Cameras Fighting Illegal Waste Dumping

16 Feb 2016

Lima, Peru residents are urged to follow the proper guidelines when they dispose of their waste since now they will have vultures on their trail.

These vultures are equipped with GoPro cameras and GPS tracking devices, which will help environment officials close in on the culprits of illegal waste dumping neighboring the Peruvian capital.

The scavenging birds were thought to be the perfect bird for this type of task since there was little to no preparation needed to get them over to the waste deposits since their natural instinct for searching for food is to seek out organic matter.

According to officials, the city has a waste problem and each year up to two million tons of waste is accumulated in the Peruvian capital. That is a great deal of trash and it draws vultures in like flies.

Waste is not only being dumped in landfills. It is reported that some residents are making a lot of illegal dumps each year (around 20 percent of the tons of waste are illegal).

The environment ministry decided to address the issue by creating a social media campaign/unorthodox program where instead of being treated like villains, vultures were treated instead like heroes. These vultures are helping to spread the word about the trash problem in Lima and motivate residents to report illegal waste dumping and manage their own waste. Involved in the project are Captain Aella and Captain Fenix; leading vultures.

Captain Fenix flies all over the slate-gray sky of Peru with a small video camera equipped on his chest and films this illegal waste dumping. Social media campaigns are helping to promote and encourage recycling.

Fenix along with nine other vultures which have been named with different mythology characters are propelled by powerful wing-beats. Ads that are promoted in radio and television campaigns cause Peruvians to think about how dangerous illegal dumping is due to the diseases it could carry. Recycling is highly encouraged and are materials that are typically found in the wall-to-wall trash piles anyway.

Captain Fenix along with the other sky spies is hardly noticed among the other vultures known to Peruvians as pests.

The vultures are first tested and certified that they are free of disease. They are then equipped with the GPS tracking devices and video cameras prior to being freed to go feed at the dumping areas. Following each outing, the birds fly back with the footage allowing authorities and scientists to study and locate illegal dump locations.


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