Who is shooting crows in Chatham's residential areas?
Despite a bylaw banning the general public from shooting firearms in the city, a dozen crows with gunshot wounds have been treated by a local wildlife rehabilitation specialist or picked up by the humane society since October
All were found in residential areas of Chatham. Few were healthy enough to fly.
The latest was found this week by a local resident, who called The Chatham Daily News. A reporter found a frozen, dead bird beside a ridge of trees just north of the railway tracks about 200 metres behind the Canadian Auto Workers hall.
Several empty shell casings were found scattered a few metres away. There's a flicker of recognition on the face of Larry Legue, an officer with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as he examines the bird.
He can't say for sure how this bird died.
Joanne Siddall, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist licenced by the Ministry of Natural Resources, says death to this young bird likely came quickly after being hit by several pellets.
Like a doctor performing an autopsy, she placed the bird on newspaper spread on her kitchen table. She located at least three entry wounds and pried open the bird's flesh, exposing the damage.
"Look at his leg," she said, showing where the bone had been completely severed. "It's hanging on with a piece of skin."
Depending on the type of ammunition, each blast from a shotgun would shoot anything from a few pellets to a few hundred tiny pellets. The Federal Top Gun casing found behind the CAW hall would have contained about 400 pellets, according to information written on the casing.
Staff-Sgt. Chris Kennedy, of the Chatham-Kent Police Service, said police don't often deal with shotgun complaints.
"It's very rare we get called about that. Most of the time it's kids with pellet guns and BB guns."
Charges are also rare. Most of the time, kids are taken home to their parents and given a warning, Kennedy said.
A Chatham bylaw bans anyone from firing any type of firearm, including an air gun or pellet gun in the city without the permission of the police chief.
Since last fall, public works employees have used a number of methods, including shotgun blasts using blanks, to convince crows to roost outside the city. For a few months, citizens on the west wide of Chatham have had to put up with evening shotgun blasts from public works staff using scare cartridges.
In late December, the municipality began using a small group of hunters to fire live rounds into flocks of crows.
Municipal staff or the volunteer hunters have not had authority to fire shots or bullets in any part of Chatham, municipal officials have said repeatedly.
A public works spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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