Metro

Monday November 9, 2009

All out war on crows

By KC CHAN


JOHOR BARU: The Kulai Municipal Council (MPKu) has declared an all out war against the crow population that is a growing nuisance in housing estate.

The birds have been blamed not just for being noisy but also dirtying the place with their droppings.

To curb their numbers, the council organised a one-day operation recently and shot at least 250 birds within two hours.

One down, more to go: Elias (left) holding a dead crow while Chai (right) looks on.

MPKu councillor Chai Kuek Sen said the operation was initiated in response to the large number of complaints from residents, especially those in Bandar Putra Kulai.

“Residents are complaining about the crow droppings everywhere.

“They also cannot tolerate the noise that the crows make, which is the loudest at 6am and 6pm daily,” he said.

He added that residents tried to trap the crows two months ago but this was not successful.

A menace: A total of 250 crows were shot within two hours recently.

Chai said it was the first time the council embarked on such an exercise and it would conduct a second operation, targeting the crows’ breeding sites.

He pointed out that crows fed on leftovers and would remain in a location if food was easily available to them.

Council president Elias Hasran agreed that the shooting operation was not the best solution to the problem and that residents should be taking responsibility to maintain cleanliness of the area.

“The exercise eliminated only some of the crows but it will not stop the remaining from coming back.

“We need to tackle the root cause,” he said, adding that the birds came from surrounding areas.

Elias advised residents to keep their surroundings clean and dispose off leftovers properly.

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