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A video of a man trapping crows in an HDB estate within Ang Mo Kio constituency was put up on Reddit by user u/QzSG on June 1, 2022.

The six-and-a-half minute video showed at least seven crows trapped in a makeshift ladder trap made out of nets and poles.

The ladder trap appeared to have been set up for the sole purpose of catching crows.

Crows that enter the trap through the ladder at the top will be unable to leave owing to the sloped shape of the trap's roof and the carefully spaced ladder rungs.

Man removed crows calmly, methodically

Throughout the duration of the video, the man could be seen moving in a measured way as he appeared not to want to startle the birds.

He then proceeded to methodically remove the crows from the cage one by one after using his net to corner and trap each bird.

The birds he removed were placed inside a pet carrier.

Discussions on Reddit centred on the man's role, as those who commented said he was likely hired to manage the bird population, which is a perennial issue in Singapore that has cropped up from time to time in the media.

The contraption of nets and poles has also been seen in other estates in Singapore.

Background

In the past, some 20 years ago, the management of the crow population in Singapore involved shooting them with shotguns.

The plan then was to cut the crow population from 100,000 to 10,000.

The use of shotguns to cull birds here have presented problems, besides the debate on whether more humane methods could be employed.

In February 2019, an auxiliary police officer tried to cull crows without clearing the area or checking his line-of-sight, and ended up firing multiple pellets into the front door of an HDB flat some 23m away.

His actions were deemed to have put civilians at risk.

Issue of culling

Looking at the issue from a broader perspective, culling has been called out as an ineffective long-term solution to controlling bird populations.

Speaking about the pigeon population in Singapore in particular, Anbarasi Boopal, co-CEO of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, said in 2019 that culling these birds by poisoning them -- which was one method carried out -- was a short-term fix that only made the problem worse.

She said culling removes healthy pigeons to give the remaining ones more food and allow them to breed even more.

Moreover, the use of poison could also have unintended consequences, such as poisoning other animals and birds, such as quails and orioles.

Availability of food the cause of population growth

The growth of the crow population in Singapore has been attributed to the availability of food.

This was reiterated by the Ministry of National Development (MND) in February 2021 when it addressed a parliamentary question on methods to manage the crow population.

MND said "food made available by humans is a key driver of crow population growth" and that NParks received 2,750 cases of crow related feedback in 2020 pertaining to "issues such as noise, crow sightings, feeding, and crow attacks".

MND said NParks would continue to refine their science-based management of the crow population and "develop innovative trap designs" that are both "humane and effective".

Top photo via Reddit