Slingshot Amnesty Saves Birds, Educates Children

Conservationists in Colombia are hailing the National Slingshot Amnesty as a big success in efforts to conserve the country’s rare birds. It is common in many parts of Central and South America for young children to kill birds with slingshots for sport. The practice is widespread, and rare or declining bird species are often killed, with potentially serious consequences for their populations.

Fundación ProAves launched the National Slingshot Amnesty, as a way of removing these weapons from use while educating the children about conserving their nation’s unique avian heritage. ProAves conducted the operation from their mobile environmental education classroom, the Parrot Bus, with support from American Bird Conservancy, Loro Parque Fundación, and the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund.

More than 300 slingshots were voluntarily handed in by the children, in return for which they received a package of environmental education materials, including free membership to the ProAves youth group, Friends of the Birds. They were also able to participate in environmental workshops given onboard the Parrot Bus. Many children handing over their slingshots gave detailed accounts of the birds they had killed. These often numbered in the many dozens, giving graphic illustration to the prolific nature of hunting birds by children.

“Children have demonstrated once again their amazing ability to respond to environmental education, and to understand the message of respect for nature that the campaign is spreading throughout the local communities,” said Sara Ines Lara, Executive Director of Fundación ProAves.

The slingshots will be displayed at the ProAves head office in Bogotá to serve as an example to hundreds more children. “They will serve to show all Colombians that it is possible to do something for bird conservation, and that with simple measures such as the act of humility to stop using slingshots to kill birds, we can make an effective and immediate contribution to conservation", said Johanna Villa, Parrot Bus Coordinator.

ProAves launched the Parrot Bus in 2005. This brightly painted school bus, festooned with cartoon birds, has so-far visited more than 1,600 rural schools in 105 Colombian municipalities, spreading the message of long-term conservation, particularly of the country’s 53 parrot species such as the rare Yellow-eared Parrot, Fuertes’s Parrot, and Santa Marta Parakeet. More than 40,000 children have boarded the bus for workshops and demonstrations, helping to ensure that the country’s wildlife is protected. For more information visit www.proaves.org.