A fun example of lateral thinking with a serious message. Something that looks like a gimmick has an obvious purpose – to clean up litter – alongside a couple of more subtle ones about our behaviour. Seeing the consequences from another perspective might have us eating crow indeed.
As you enter Puy du Fou, a historical theme park in Les Epesses, France, you might come across a curious new attraction: crows collecting trash in exchange for treats.
No, the birds aren’t the park’s newest cleanup crew. In fact, the performance is merely a training exercise. But Puy du Fou president Nicolas de Villiers says there’s an alternative motive to the workout as well—to send a message to park visitors: Don’t litter.
“We want to show humans that they should pick up waste by themselves,” he says. “People have been a bit shocked seeing the crow doing this game. We’re not educating the crows, we’re educating human beings.”