Crows in the cross hairs

[Jenny]

Crows are "regular visitors" to Esplanade.

THE Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) has allocated RM18,000 to keep check on the island’s crow population.

Its Public Health committee alternate chairman Ong Ah Teong said it was impossible to eradicate the menace.

“Even modern countries like Hong Kong and Japan have failed to eradicate pests like rodents and crows.

“Nonetheless, we will work hard towards reducing the crow population from about 20,000 to 15,000 this year. MPPP is allocating RM18,000 for this.

“I appeal to eatery operators to keep their premises clean and to stop feeding strays as food wastes attract crows,” he said after the full council meeting.

He said the council’s “multi-pronged” measures of shooting, trapping and baiting the scavenger birds and destroying their nests, had been effective in destroying 20,276 crows last year.

He said at the end of 2011, the council received a crow attack complaint from a resident in Burmah Road, George Town.

“The man claimed that the crow would attack him each time he left the house and this went on for about three months.

“The man said he was so petrified that he would use an umbrella to shield himself every time he needed to get out.

“MPPP officers visited the home and trimmed the branches of a tree behind his house,” he said.

On Monday, New York tourist Michael Zullo, who is on a visit to Penang with his wife, called on the council to act on the crow menace.

In his e-mail to The Star, Zullo said they were enjoying dinner at a seaside cafe in Tanjung Bungah until dozens of crows swarmed a tree.

“Hopefully, the cafe owner or the council can do something about this awful crow mess at the restaurant,” he wrote.

Ong said the council would act on the complaint.

On a separate complaint by reader Ray Ooi who lamented that the state was among the dirtiest in the country with some crows “as huge as chickens”, Ong said although crows were a nuisance, the problem was not as bad as claimed.

페낭에 점점 까마귀의 수가 늘어나고 있다고 합니다.. 페낭시는 올해 까마귀 수를 줄이기 위해 18,000링깃을 책정했다고 하네요..

간이식당들은 주위를 깨끗이하여 까마귀가 음식 쓰레기통을 뒤지지 않도록 하라고 합니다.  까마귀가 사람도 공격하고 있다고 해요.. 조심하시기 바랍니다..

[로즈]

아 진짜 여기저기 까마귀, 비둘기가 많은 것같아요. 저것들의 떵이 장난이 아니라서..빨리빨리 다 잡기를 ..

[찌냐]

음... 까마귀 깍깍 하는 소리 ... 어쩔땐 소름이 돋기도 하더라구욤... 일본에서도 까마귀 때문에 꽤나 ... 정부가 나서서 난리도 아니었다는데 ..... 음... 싹 다 잡았음 좋겠어여