This is the moment trained crows and parrots pick up ciggie butts and tiny bits of rubbish from the ground before popping them in the bin.
The incident was filmed near the city of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of a project to encourage residents to dispose of their own rubbish.
According to local media, the ‘Nature Educates Us’ campaign was organised by Barari Natural Resources, which manages around 400 nature reserves and forests around Abu Dhabi.
Organisers said that the birds are much better at collecting tiny pieces of rubbish such as pull rings and cigarette butts.
German bird trainer Alonso Malo, who teaches the birds, told local media: “If a bird is able to pick up rubbish, why can’t humans do the same thing?”
Malo, who has been working on the project for one year, started with crows, but as there were not many available to use he began training parrots as well.
Later in the year, when a group of Indian house crows had been reared, Malo was able to start training them to collect rubbish.
The bird trainer claimed that the parrots are less efficient than their crow counterparts as they often bunk off to fool around.
Reports said that there are currently 25 birds in training while five crows and two parrots are already fully qualified and even give public demonstrations, as seen in the video footage.
There are plans to add more birds to the project throughout the year.
Flying squad of birds trained to pick up litter in Abu Dhabi parks 
Flying squad of birds trained to pick up litter in Abu Dhabi parks
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Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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