Small birds flee city as crows multiply
Forget pollution woes. The city is in the grip of a feathered monster which is slowly but surely driving out other birds from its limits. Sparrows, pigeons, parrots and koels are suffering because of the ever-increasing population of crows. The house crow or the common crow is a common sight in India and are abundantly found in the cities. They are also termed as scavengers for their constant search for edibles and the term has been passed over by the vultures that are facing extinction. The crow population in a few years' time might simply preponderate to other bird population in the country. These abysmal creatures survive on garbage, anything dump carelessly without proper sanitation or dead rodents. At times they even feed on human spit. Speaking to FPJ, Anish Andheria, director, science, natural history and photography, Sanctuary Asia said, " the crow population has grown because of humans; we are extremely poor in getting rid of the waste and dump garbage in an open waste ground. Crows are indicators of solid man-made pollution and reflect what we do to the environment. We need to change our dirty and unhealthy practices or otherwise just watch the crow population mounting.' In addition to this, they are being deemed as a threat to other birds like sparrows, koels, parrots or pigeons that are very vulnerable and defenceless or are simply too weak to retaliate. And at times they don't kill these weak birds like sparrows just because they are hungry but for self-gratification. The next time when you hear a koel croon, listen to it a little longer for you may not hear that crooning after a few years as the birds could be annihilated completely by the destructive crows who are out there to get every other species of birds, feel several environmentalists. These crows ruthlessly attack young, attractive birds unnecessarily which can be hazardous for their population.' States Anish. It is being apparently known that the hapless sparrows are disappearing mainly due to these over-populated black birds that pursue them unconditionally. These abominable creatures are actually killed in Singapore, it being a cleanliness conscious city; these feathered monsters are proved to be an anathema for its immaculate environment and are therefore done away with. On the contrary it has been stated that crows can act as cleanliness agents for the city for they consume everything that is carelessly jettisoned which could be a source of pollution. They regularly eat away the rats that are left dead and mutilated by a speeding vehicle. " It's a meager benefit from these birds and cannot be termed as an advantage, it's the responsibility of the municipality to clean such filth like dead rats and not of crows. It is very unhealthy. The best way is to reduce the garbage and regularly clean the niche provided for garbage to lessen the crow population,' adds Anish.