Daredevil birds: Pigeons swarming a popular shopping area in the Klang Valley. — AINA AMIRAH/The Star
KLANG: The city here is known for its crows and these birds have now invaded other parts of Selangor.
Over the years, cities that have a thriving population of the birds such as Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Klang have carried out crow-shooting exercises but failed to bring down the number.
In Klang, the crow population is not only known for its cawing cacophony throughout the day, it is also notorious for vandalising garbage bins and stealing objects such as hangers.
Jean Sivakumar, 46, who lives in Taman Gembira here, said she has to constantly replenish the hangers used for drying clothes as the crows have taken a liking to them.
“Not a day goes by without the crows swooping into my car porch and flying away with a hanger,’’ she said.
Ramli Ahmad, who runs a sundry shop in Kampung Jawa, said he noticed that the birds became fewer after the residents started to make sure their garbage was properly disposed of.
“But you can still see crows coming and sitting on parked cars in the area,’’ he added.
Klang Municipal Council’s Health Department director Azmi Muji said the council received nine bird nuisance complaints from the public last year.
“Although there have been complaints, the problems created by birds such as crows and pigeons in the district are not that critical,’’ he said.
He added that there had been no reports regarding health issues related to birds so far.
“Nevertheless, the council will still take all complaints seriously and ensure that we do the necessary.
“Like in 2023, it had organised several exercises to trap pigeons and shoot crows,’’ he said, adding that the council had managed to cull 5,291 crows with the help of the police and licensed firearm owners.
Most of the birds in this city are believed to be the descendants of about 50 crows, which were brought to Carey Island from Sri Lanka in the early 1900s by a British planter to keep rodents away from coffee plants.
According to Prof Dr Rosli Ramli from Universiti Malaya’s Institute of Biological Sciences, there is no real danger of people contracting bacterial or viral infections from crows if there is no direct contact.
He added that the problem mainly revolves around the nuisance the birds created by foraging garbage and excreting on cars parked under trees.
“So, there is a need to control their food sources by having a proper and secure garbage disposal system.
“There is a high population of crows in Klang and places near the district because there are many food sources for the birds,’’ he pointed out.
Rosli, who has conducted extensive research on crows, said another reason for the high population of crows in these places is the choice of trees used by the local councils for landscaping.
“We carried out research in Bangsar and found that crows like to perch on angsana trees.
“If you go to places like Klang, you’ll see that these trees are widely used for landscaping in the area.
“So, cutting off their food supply and removing their favourite tree will also prevent crows from breeding indiscriminately,” he said.
Rosli also said it is impossible to eradicate the crows.
The birds have a high degree of intelligence, he said while narrating how Japanese scientists had observed that the species placed hard-skinned nuts on the street for cars to run over them.
“The scientists also observed that the crows would only place the nuts on the streets near traffic lights and pick the flesh after the light turns red and traffic comes to a standstill to prevent themselves from being killed (by the moving vehicles),’’ he added.
Former Zoo Negara deputy director Datuk Dr S. Vellayan said one needs to worry only if crows have settled down in a single location and their collective faeces create mounds.
“If people happen to inhale whatever that is emitted from this mound of crow faeces, then there is a possibility of disease such as lung infection,’’ he said.
He reckoned that as long as the crows are free flying and not settled in one permanent location, they do not pose any health hazards.
Dr Vellayan said since crows are scavengers that feed on carcasses and decayed food, he believed their flesh is not desirable to other animals.
He remembered that some two decades ago, Zoo Negara staff tried feeding the crocodiles with crow carcasses but the reptiles refused to eat them.
