Like a Hitchcock flick made frighteningly real, HDB residents of Pasir Ris Street 12 have been on the alert for avian aerial assaults after a murderous murder of crows started attacking several people in the vicinity.
One woman in her late 40s even had to be rushed to Changi General Hospital on Tuesday night after the birds pecked and clawed at her head. According to The New Paper, she sustained lacerations on her forehead; wounds that were bad enough to send spurts of blood splattering on the ground.
Later on in the evening, the crows got into a murderous mood once again. 41-year-old Ian Ng and his elderly 77-year-old father both got bombarded as well on the way to a pasar malam, but escaped without suffering serious injuries.
What the younger Ng mentioned to The New Paper might explain why aggro crow activity has been particularly flurried in recent days:
“I saw a baby crow lying on the ground and four or five big crows perched on shelters and lamp posts. The crows swooped down when people walked into the area. A crow went for my head. I got a shock.”
This makes sense — crows are more prone to attack during their nesting season. The birds will only attack if they feel that their nests and young are threatened in any way, and will fiercely defend their territory.
Oh, and it doesn’t help that crows are highly intelligent as well. They can recognise and remember faces; they can hold grudges; they can communicate and conspire with one another; they have long memories; they can craft and use tools.
The attacks prompted an urgent call to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). Since then, the authorities have conducted a culling exercise, including the removal of nests.
Though AVA’s actions and surveillance might have temporarily chased them away, it seems that the crows are not that easy to get rid of (re: the part about them being intelligent). Another resident reported being attacked by one just yesterday afternoon, while he saw three other crows swooping in on another man. If that’s true, it’ll mean that the residents will have to just bear the fowl troubles for a while more.
