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Following the crow attacks on people in Bishan, another incident -- this time in Hougang -- has been reported.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, a 38-year-old woman was attacked by a crow near Block 524 Hougang Avenue 8, next to Montfort Secondary School.
The incident occurred around 7:20am on Friday morning, Feb. 17.
The woman claimed the bird swooped down and pecked her on the head.
She then ran off.
According to the woman, surnamed Wei, she was walking home alone after sending her children to school.
She suddenly felt a pain on the top of her head while walking past a block of HDB flats.
When she looked up, she realised that she had been attacked by a crow.
She said: "I was looking down at my mobile phone. I didn't expect the crow to fly from behind me and grabbed my head with its claws. I was startled and ran away. Fortunately, it didn't continue to attack."
Trap set up
When a reporter went to the scene, a large cage trap was already in place.
A Mothership reader said the area is no stranger to crow attacks.
He said the trap was set up by the National Parks Board (NParks) at least two months ago to mitigate the issue.
Image via Mothership reader
Image via Mothership reader
"At the start, when the trap was built, there were quite a few crows captured," he said. "But after about a week or so, the cage was empty."
"There are a lot of crows around. I walk past the area quite often but thankfully have never been attacked by crows before," he said.
Not all residents are as fortunate, however.
Speaking to Zaobao a 70-year-old woman who runs a minimart at Block 523 said she saw four or five women attacked by crows in the last week alone.
She added: "I found that when there are many people, the crows will not launch an attack. It will specifically pick out passers-by who are walking alone, and fly from a high place to the back of the victim every time to attack."
Zaobao reported that some 2,750 complaints about crows were lodged with NParks in 2020 alone, averaging 7.5 complaints per day.
The complaints centred around crows making noise, crows attacking people, and people feeding crows.
Eateries, playgrounds and school around the area
Although it is unclear why there are a lot of crows around the area or why they are attacking people, it was observed that there are eateries and playgrounds in the vicinity.
Opposite Block 523, image via Google Street View
Wei said many students walk past the area every day and hopes that authorities can take further action to prevent children from being targeted.
NParks is managing the crow population
Adrian Loo, group director of wildlife management at NParks told Mothership that it is working to manage the crow population in a humane manner.
He said: "We adopt the more humane method of trapping and subsequent euthanasia to manage the crow population," he said, ensuring that crow "population control is carried out in a humane and safe manner and does not result in animal cruelty."
He added:
"House Crows (Corvus splendens) are not native and are an invasive species in Singapore, posing a threat to our native biodiversity. Additionally, they are particularly protective of their young (fledglings and chicks) and may attack when the chicks are in the nest or when they sense that their young are threatened.
Management of invasive bird species requires a holistic and science-based approach, incorporating the removal of food sources, habitat modification, population control strategies, such as nest removal and crow trapping, and studies to understand the population ecology of the birds such as their roosting patterns and movements."
Zaobao's laundry list of advice for the public included reasons for crow attacks.
It explained that crows are very protective of fledglings and they have a propensity of remembering people's faces.
But crows can be deterred by the reflective surfaces of shiny objects, such as a CD.
Read more
Top image via Mothership reader and James Peh Nature Photography/Facebook