Slashdot Mirror
Theme Park Deploys Trained Crows To Collect Litter (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the Guardian:
Six crows trained to pick up cigarette ends and rubbish will be put to work next week at a French historical theme park, according to its president. "The goal is not just to clear up, because the visitors are generally careful to keep things clean" but also to show that "nature itself can teach us to take care of the environment", said Nicolas de Villiers of the Puy du Fou park, in the western Vendee region.... The birds will be encouraged to spruce up the park through the use of a small box that delivers a nugget of bird food each time the rook deposits a cigarette end or small piece of rubbish.
"There's an easier way to get rid of all the cigarette butts," suggests one anonymous Slashdot reader.
"Just train the crows to attack smokers."
"There's an easier way to get rid of all the cigarette butts," suggests one anonymous Slashdot reader.
"Just train the crows to attack smokers."
... they be trained to deliver parcels?
They can't be any worse than most courier companies.
But let's not forget they're not all arseholes.
Do these cows need nicotine patches if they aren't deployed for a while?
--- Mercutio was right.
> "There's an easier way to get rid of all the cigarette butts," suggests one anonymous Slashdot reader.
> "Just train the crows to attack smokers."
Chances are the training they have already given to crows will inadvertently have trained them to target smokers, just give it some time.
Was I the only one to read this as "trained cows" the first time?
They'll bring trash from offsite, and wherever they can find it. And they'll hack the food pellet dispenser if they can.
Crows are one of the most intelligent birds. They are trainable.
It could work.
These crows are taking our jobs!!!
I read it a couple of times and still saw trained cows. Wjen I got to the mention of "birds" I backed to see if they said it was bovines and avians.
Of course, I just woke up from a nap so my eyes and brain are foggy.
"nature itself can teach us to take care of the environment"
How does this follow when humans are training the crows to clean up the human mess?
...who is mentioned in the article, and where can I subscribe to his newsletter?
Also, can we implement his suggestion nationwide, or at least buy pretrained crows to guard our own localities / follow us around and clear the area of those filthy ash-holes?
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Once the crows eliminate all of the smokers, train them to attack the beer drinkers. Then the meat eaters, music and movie pirates, and anyone that dares to use a plastic straw. If you're going to train a murder of crows, don't half-ass it.
Release the Dung Beetles!
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Hey douche, not all smokers throw their cigarette butts wherever.
Maybe they should teach the crows to attack you.
Not in the discussion. WTF? Is editordavid making up shit out of whole cloth to disguise a personal bias? And, it appears that this "anonymous Slashdot reader" is not only ignorant of French culture, but one of those extremely intolerant Antifa members.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I'm not 100% sure, it's worth testing this idea, but I'm an avid reader of studies and research like this and almost invariably there are unattended consequences, enough that the project must be cancelled.
This isn't the same because it's human flaws and not other animal flaws, but for example in some Indian villages where they paid people to bring in invasive species, it worked very well for a few months but then they found out that people were started to breed ridiculous amounts of invasive species and bringing them all in to make huge amounts of money. So instead of reducing invasive species it actually magnified the problem significantly.
In this case, I don't know what the crows might do, but I'm sure over time there will be some flaws coming forth.
Crows are surprisingly intelligent. Look up the crow abuse/Nixon mask experiment
There's a "secret cow level"joke in here somewhere....
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
who made a good point that there are several animals (Dolphins, Raccoons) that have nearly human level brains but that their limited bodies (no arms/thumbs) means they're probably stuck at a dead end. My first thought was the Uplift series of books.
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How long until they are swooping cigarettes from the mouths of those still smoking ? or bumming them verbally from other people. Hey Buddy gotta smoke I can bum, I need a crow pellet fix :)
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
The first time I saw this headline I was on my phone and read it as "trained cows" which mad much less sense.
(hmm... captcha: utterly)
The environment didn't buy cigarettes or refuse to dispose of them safely.
> These are the same spanners that will drop rubbish a meter from a bin, throw a bottle out of the car window, spit gum out onto a footpath
I've seen that too. I've called people out on it. For smokers, I've pointed out that making a mess is a great way to get management to make the whole place non-smoking.
ALSO I've looked for trash cans and ash trays in places one would definitely expect them to be, and found none. Entrances to malls and other places that people spend over an hour, but they can't smoke inside, are places that people will smoke. Many people (such as yourself) will put the butt in the can, if there is a can available. Butts smell really bad for a couple hours, so carrying it around with you inside isn't a great option. Even throwing away inside will make the indoor area around an uncovered trash can stink for a while.
So it's a good idea to have a butt can / ashtray near entrances to places people can't smoke inside and they'll be there for a couple hours. Not everyone will use the butt can, just like not everyone will throw their empty cup in a trash can, but many people will.
I support Moscow Hillary's collusion with the most corrupt side of the intelligence community to spread lies meant to shield HRC from accountability for the many corrupt, slimey, illegal, awful things HRC has done in the last decade, because I am a gullible sheep just like the DNC propaganda is designed to make me.
I am a Democrat. I am thoughtless.
I was going to call bullshit until I realised I had misread cows
I for one welcome our avian overlords.
The more trash one picks up it seems, the more trash people feel they can deposit. Soon they'll be training elephants to pick up trash.
E Proelio Veritas.
Doesn't anyone else think using crows in this way is exploitative? It's not their job to clean up human messes.
My name is Viorel S. (Still an "Anonymous Coward"?)
I had a better, much better idea: do away with the infamous, hard-to-pick-up cigarette butt. It is, maybe, as deleterious to one's health as the laundry list of poisons to be found in each of the notorious "nails" smokers drive into their coffins every day. Its addition was a catastrophic lack of vision. The butt of the genius who implemented it should be kicked all the way into eternity. The buttless butt, tobacco and paper, turns into dust under the passersby's (tricky genitive) footsteps or is dissolved and washed away into the sewage system by rain. No pollution whatsoever. The tip(s) of the cigarette can be compacted mechanically or chemically to prevent loss of tobacco shreds. And, Philip Morris, your bottom line would grow exponentially by the cutting of the appendix and the time allotted to making each cigarette. In the end, the crow quoth, "Nevermore". No ifs, ands, or butts. Dixi.
Please throw trash on the ground or the poor birds will go hungry.
sounds more like a plot to kill crows with nicotine.
Nice try Don Jr.
Yeah, who would be stupid enough to hold a lithium battery close to his face and carry it everyday in his pocket.
6.8 billion people have cell phone subscriptions.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
That's a nice rocket ship!
that litters in the first place? Is it that hard to kick people out for being selfish disgusting picks?
You can train crows but you can't train some selfish, entitled pricks who literally would not see a bin if they were standing in it.
Cause I accidentally downmodded a funny comment.
I tend to rant.
Number of smokers asked in survey 338
Number of former-smokers asked in survey 546.
Some people read these headlines as if they are facts. They are if you rewrite them: Most out of 338 smokers asked, want to quit, and have tried multiple times. Leaving out the sample size of a survey leads us incapable of assigning weight to the statement.
I'm pretty sure everyone who smoke is addicted. It doesn't mean you can't stop, it means you suffer from withdrawal symptoms if you do.