Lima has lots of vultures, specifically Black Vultures! Locally referred to as Gallinazos, these birds are common right throughout the Americas, and have wingspans of up to 1.5 metres. We covered these birds more generally in another post, but today I want to discuss their role as the garbage guardians of Lima!

Lima has, to put it mildly, a bit of a problem with trash. With not enough legal landfills to cater for the city’s 11 million inhabitants, many resort to dumping rubbish in ‘illegal’ tips, a problem that has gradually gotten worse as Lima’s population has expanded.

Back in 2016, in an effort to encourage its citizens to dispose of their rubbish correctly, Lima’s environmental authorities decided to enlist the help of the city’s most notorious birds. Armed with GoPros and GPS locators, ten Black Vultures were told to do what they usually do – seek out rubbish! The goal was to identify clandestine dumps and record their location on a live map.

Primarily however, this was a PR campaign, designed to engage people in their city’s trash problem and try to change their habits. Each of the vultures was given a name, and you could log on and track your favourite bird at any time. The campaign also involved a highly dramatic ad, a true masterpiece, which I highly recommend checking out.

I’m not sure whether the campaign ultimately had much of an impact, as it appears that Lima’s trash problems are systemic, and probably aren’t going to be fixed by focusing on the individual. However, it’s always nice to see humans working with vultures and other scavengers rather than demonising them.

Even when they’re not acting as Lima’s environmental defenders, Black Vultures are fascinating birds! You can read more about them here.

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Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), Lima, Peru