The war against Chatham's growing crow population has escalated to its highest level, with bullets being used on several occasions over the past few weeks. But it's not clear whether killing a few of the large, black birds has succeeded in dispersing the flock from its nightly roost. "So far, it seems like they're moving slightly, but it's premature to say whether it's been successful," said Leo Denys, general manager of public works for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. Since late December, a small number of police-approved volun-teer hunters have aimed their shot-guns and fired at the birds. At the same time, municipal staff have continued their use of blank rounds in residential areas to prevent the crows from moving back into the city. Denys did not know the exact number of times the hunters had been out, but said it was less than 10. He also did not have an exact count of the number that have been killed. The intent of the exercise is not to destroy the flock - now estimated by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources at 160,000 -but to kill a few to convince the larger flock to move on. Denys said the latest ministry count was completed recently. It compares to an estimate of 100,000 last winter and 90,000 the year before. The decision to use live ammunition was made by public works staff in December after they realized they had exhausted all non-lethal means of dispersing the mass roosts into rural areas.
Council gave staff permission Nov.15 to "use whatever means are required" to convince the hungry squawking birds not to roost in residential and commercial areas. Since then, public works staff has used a variety of tools, with mixed results.
· Staff have been using scare cartridges, essentially shotgun blanks, between dusk and 8 p.m. to move their evening gatherings west of the city. This worked for a while, but eventually the crows changed their timetable and gathered later.
· For about one week, a local group - which Denys would not identify - hired a firm at its own expense to bring in bald eagles and falcons to act as natural predators. This scattered the crows during the daytime, when the predators were visible. But when night fell, the crows could not see the attackers and returned to their usual places.
· Staff then started hanging dead crows from trees after dusk to spook them. In most cases, the dead birds were removed before dawn. This also had limited effects. "We came to the conclusion that anything with a visibility issue was limited in its usefulness," said Denys. Visibility is limited at night ... The roost is a nighttime problem."
· Playing a tape of a crow in distress at first "almost had a reverse effect. Crows would fly to the area to assist," said Denys. After a few days, it resulted in the same mass of birds gathering in another spot. One by one, these tactics were added to the arsenal and were used in concert. "At that point, we exhausted all alternatives. We've now had several shoot to kills since mid-December;" said Denys.
One option not attempted was hanging giant eyes in trees, a method that has had some success in other places. Denys said it would have the same effect as introducing predators and hanging dead crows in trees. He said he has not heard any complaints since the shoots began. We've had no feedback from anyone on it, but we're not out there advertising it." Some of the carcasses have been sent to the University of Guelph to be tested for diseases, he added. He has not heard back. Times and locations of the shoots are being kept secret so crow shoot critics don't show up and put themselves at risk, municipal officials have decided.
copyright Chatham Daily News