Gallinazo is an American vulture. It is Lima’s famous bird because it has been present in its history, art and literature; it is also part of the city’s environment. G allinazos have always been rummaging in the rubbish looking for food; they depend on carrion and spoiled food.

It is important to mention that in colonial times, many prehispanic irrigation channels accumulated waste from passers-by and markets, because they were in the middle of the streets. Through centuries, thanks to the silent work of gallinazos, the spread of diseases has been prevented, and for this reason people avoided killing them.

According to Maria Rostworowski (historian), in prehispanic times, these birds lived near the sanctuary of Pachacamac; they were also fed and taken care of. In her vast work, the historian relates the conflict between the ancient gods Pachacamac (lord of the earthquakes) and Vichama (son of the sun); the latter lost his mother, because Pachacamac had killed her and left her dead body as food for gallinazos and condors, but later Vichama brought her back to life. This fact is linked to agrarian cycles and the greening of crops, since Vichama (symbolically representing the sun) gave the land (Vichama’s mother) the chance to regenerate and offer its fruits:

“Pedro Pizarro mentions the tradition of throwing loads of sardines and anchovies every day in a square in front of the Pachacamac idol, with the purpose of feeding gallinazos and condors … This information is related to the myth and the reference that the corpse of Vichama’s mother was offered to gallinazos and condors. It is a substitute ritual in which the fish took the place of the shattered body …”

Jose de Acosta (priest) indicates that by the end of the sixteenth century, gallinazos cleaned the streets:

“In Peru there are … the auras they call them, and the others call them gallinazas, for me they are some kind of crows … to clean the cities and streets, because they do not leave dead things; at night they are in the field in trees or rocks; in the morning they come to the cities, and from the highest buildings they look for their prey …”

Garcilaso de la Vega mentions that people did not kill them due to their contribution in health issues:

“There are other large black birds that the Indians call suyuntu and the spanish gallinaza; they eat a lot of meat and they are so greedy that if they find dead beasts in the fields, they eat such a quantity that they are not able to fly, although they are very light… but they are not eaten by people, or used for any other purpose; they clean the streets from the filth; for that reason people do not kill them … “

At the end of the eighteenth century, Martínez Compañón (bishop), in the catalog of images of his book “Trujillo of Peru” (1782-85), shows the “Dance of the gallinazos” that may show the importance of these birds in the elimination of waste.

In Lima city there is a wide variety of stories about gallinazos, as this article of “El Comercio” newspaper in 1892. It mentions that these birds interrupted even in the masses in churches, generating a lot of disturbance:

The writer Julio Ramón Ribeyro in his story “Los gallinazos sin plumas” ” (Gallinazos without feathers) (1955) shows children who live in poverty and are exploited to look for food for pigs in the rubbish dumps of Lima:

“ Efraín and Enrique walked to the rubbish dumps. Soon they were part of the strange fauna of these places, and the gallinazos, accustomed to their presence, worked beside them, croaking, fluttering, and digging with their yellow beaks, as helping them to discover the clue of the precious filth… they were poor gallinazos without feathers!

In the same way, Sebastian Salazar Bondy in his narrative “El Señor gallinazo vuelve a Lima” (Mr. Gallinazo comes back to Lima)  (1961) reveals the changes of our city (huts, slums, residential developments) and the misery of society through a dialogue between a gallinazo that returns to Lima and a child who works as a trash recycler:

  -You are so fool, gallinazo! Things like bottles, cans, newspapers … are for sale. Mr. Gallinazo then began to understand what so many people were doing in that pile of rubbish.

-And the dogs and the pigs, do they seek those things also?

-No, no! They are looking for food. Bones, hard breads, rotten fruits…

-Before, the bird said aloud, we, gallinazos, used to do that work… We were the ones who kept the city clean. Now all the animals are gallinazos…

By 2015, this bird is related to a program called “Gallinazo avisa”, which aims to raise awareness and educate about the serious problem of the accumulation of garbage that we generate in Lima. In this way, ten gallinazos were taken and GPS trackers and cameras were installed on them, with the objective to show the areas with the highest levels of garbage accumulation in the city, such as sanitary landfills (legal landfills) and “dumps” (illegal zones). According to the OEFA (Environmental Assessment and Inspection Agency), sanitary landfills are insufficient for the nearly eight million tons of garbage generated every day in Lima (2014), and it is expected that by 2034 this amount will double. As a result, there are more illegal “dumps”, where all kinds of waste are thrown. Another major problem is the lack of garbage selection (recycling, reuse, etc.). There was no better option than gallinazos to help us identify the location of the garbage we produce in our city!

Finally, the most recent image of gallinazos is associated with the art work of Cristina Planas (“San Francisco de Lima y el gallinazo anticorrupción”), who takes these representative birds of our city as social recyclers that could “eat “corruption and thus combat the lack of values in nowadays Lima. These birds are shown at the top of the old National Library of Peru (Sep. 2016).

Perhaps, for many people, gallinazos are ugly, obscure and disgusting scavengers. Some limeños may have seen them on the roofs of churches, in public fountains, statues, or by the river, without any idea about them and their cleaning work. However, every time we see a gallinazo we should ask ourselves: are we aware of the fact that Lima generates more waste than what can be managed? Where is all the garbage we produce? What happens with the millions of plastics and bags that we receive in every purchase we make? Does waste end up in our rivers and in the sea?

Gallinazos have been our allies since ancient times and we need to recognize their value. They have always been here and will always be in Lima, performing their eternal work with great effectiveness: the cleaning of the city. That is the reason why a gallinazo is, with justice and distinction, Lima’s bird.

*Thanks to my wife (Aileen Agüero García ) for your support in the translation of my articles.