CHILE: Rare Andean condors forced to live in rubbish dumps

Chile strives to protect the endangered Andean condor which is under so much pressure in the wild many birds have begun living in city garbage dumps. Rubbish dumps are the way humans have learnt to deal with our daily waste. In nature, there is no need for trucks and tractors; instead the job is done by animals such as the giant Andean condor, which lives in here in Chile and neighbouring South American countries. Andean condors are the largest flying birds in the world. Their wing-span is as wide as a small car (11 feet) and they feed on dead and decaying meat. However on the outskirts of the Chilean capital of Santiago in Lomas Los Colorados, this endangered species has taken a shine to hanging around in human rubbish tips, foraging for food and scraps amongst the garbage. The problem is that in the process the birds pick up indigestible plastic and rubber, or are poisoned with chemicals. So many condors have started to die that the local garbage collection company - KDM - has decided to step in and help the birds out. "It is a process that we have been developing two years for the conservation of the Andean condor. KDM as a company is dedicated to looking after the environment, and takes this project with a special emphasis because we believe that it really symbolizes what it means to look after nature, what it means to look after the future for our children everything related to the issue of the environment," KDM Material Waste Company general manager Fernando León told Reuters recently. The condors have been forced to find a new home in rubbish dumps because they are being pushed out of their mountain habitats by farmers and hunters. They used to come just during winter, but workers say they now see the birds year-round. It is more bad news for an animal held up as a national symbol in many Andean countries and whose numbers dwindled to such an extent that in Venezuela they were officially declared extinct in 1965. Eduardo Pavez, co-director of the Bi-national Andean Conservation Program, said the birds need to be protected. "Chile and Argentina share the most important populations of condors in the world, and so Chile and Argentina have a tremendous responsibility with the species. A species that is not only important from an ecological point of view, but that is also important from a cultural point of view from our ancestral cultures to today. And so there are a series of initiatives that we are developing, like for example the breeding of condors in captivity, the locating of strategic spots for condors, the identification of the variables that are negatively affecting the species and what exactly needs to be done to conserve the condor," Pavez said. After two years of observing the condors' migratory and feeding habits around the dump, the scientists have decided to take a step into action. Several birds have been taken from the dump, to be tagged and readied to be moved into a new mountain home. But workers at the rehabilitation center said they don't want to be relocating birds forever. The aim is to address the underlying reasons for why the birds are living in the rubbish dumps to begin with, and inspire the local community to protect the birds. "Our principal objective isn't to be able to release as many condors as possible into habitat and have them recover, but set some of them free as an example, to send a message of conservation," biologist Víctor Escobar from the Rehabilitation Center for Predatory Birds. These birds might be healthy now, and in the future will be tracked by the conservation team who will keep an eye on their progress, but back in the wild there will be a lot of difficulties to overcome. Not only are condors prized by trophy hunters, but many farmers misunderstand that condors are purely scavengers that will never hunt or kill for themselves, and so the farmers shoot them thinking to protect their herds. "The persecution of condors is a continuing practice. In some cases they poison them in other parts they shoot them and in fact we see here (in the centre) that the majority of the condors that we receive, no matter the reason they come in, but they come in with evidence of bullets in their body which indicates to us that this species is under enormous pressure by hunters," Pavez said. Yet the conservationists still persist with their project, to the give the condors a fighting chance. Two birds were released so far this year in the high glacial valley of Chacabuco, including one just last month. The giant vulture stepped out of his box, fanned his majestic wings for a moment in the sun and then took off over the valley, gliding about the sky as his handlers peered hopefully on from down below.

ITN Source | September 10, 2007

Tags:. .santiago. .difficulties. .captivity. .venezuela. .breeding