If the visitors won’t pick up their trash, the birds will, at least at the Puy du Fou amusement park in the Vendée region of western France. The park’s falconry chief has trained a flock of black rooks to collect trash and trade it for treats.
Officials at the park, which features exhibits on different periods of French history, call it an experiment, and they hope it will make visitors more aware about litter. Or, it may make them toss more just to watch the crows at work.
The six scavengers have been trained to bring the trash to a collection box and drop it in; the box then dispenses a nugget of bird food as a reward. However, there have been a few instances of cheating, when one bird steal trash from another to collect the reward.
