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50 crows found dead in Tokyo park

33 Comments

About 50 crows were found dead in a park in Tokyo on Friday afternoon, police said Saturday.

According to police, a woman walking her dog in Johoku Chuo Park, which is located in both Nerima and Itabashi wards, went to the park administration office to report that she had seen a crow die after eating what looked like a piece of bread. Park officials subsequently found about 50 crows lying dead within 40 meters of each other in the park, Fuji TV reported.

No bread or any other food scraps were found near the crows' bodies. Police said health officials will examine the contents of the birds' stomachs to find out if they were poisoned.

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33 Comments
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Poison?

My City had a crow problem, they tried poison and removing eggs from nests.

What did it was changing the colour of rubbish bags to ones they can't see and requiring nets/covers for collection points.

Happily Crow free now.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

a man reported a crow eating something like a piece of bread then died yet no bread, and 50 in all...sounds like a disease to me

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I'd guess they have been baited. The disease scenario is interesting. Could you imagine Tokyo without crows? Wouldn't that be a fantastic thing?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Use yellow rubbish bags, crows can't see that colour or same coloured nets.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Crows aren't the real problem. How about using large metal containers (known to most of us as Dumpsters) instead of those cages and nets? If the crows were poisoned, I hope if they find the culprit(s) and throw the book at them.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Most likely not.

My area is not really exposed to tanuki, etc like tama, etc.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

poisoning crows, public service IMO.

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

If it was disease, they wouldn't have found all the dead birds in the same 40m area. We all know that diseases are spread by contact and that it takes time for the initial symptoms to show up. Crows disperse and have wide ranges. Had this been some sort of avian virus, etc., then you'd be finding dead crows all over the place and not a patch of dead birds. If it turns out to be electromagnetic radiation from UFO chem trails....then I'll eat crow...

4 ( +4 / -0 )

poisoning crows, public service IMO.

That's funny. If that would actually be a poisoned piece of bread dropped by someone on purpose in a park and then let's say your dog would eat it and die, would you still consider it public service?

That's reaaaaaallllyyy narrow minded thinking right there.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

@zichi It's said that crows never forget those who hurt them?

Especially when they look like an evil Republican.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/uw-professor-learns-crows-dont-forget-a-face/

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

It's said that crows never forget those who hurt them?

A neighbor swung a broom around once to scare them away from the gomi station, and after that they'd dive-bomb her when she went to throw out her trash.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

When we lived in Kobe, my daughter and I were walking the hills above the city when we heard a loud thump right behind us. There on the path not 5 yards away was a white double kagami-mochi. Above we saw a crow circling. If that solid disc of hard rice had hit either of us on the head, it would have been curtains for sure. Why, I wanted to ask...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Wow, 50! They must've been murdered!

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Crows steal all the cat food in my neighbourhood, and we are subject to tanuki raids as well. Our fishpond has been gutted by them multiple times.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The larger of the crows, are crows as in Jungle Crows

And as Zichi said they are incredibly smart & yes they do remember!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

That's funny. If that would actually be a poisoned piece of bread dropped by someone on purpose in a park and then let's say your dog would eat it and die, would you still consider it public service?That's reaaaaaallllyyy narrow minded thinking right there.

I've seen a group of crows attacking three kittens in a park as the mother cat could only carry one at a time. They killed and ate the baby cats. Your comment seems really naive in that context. As for the dog, my dog is trained not to eat anything that isn't from my hand or in her bowl. Not my problem if someone wants to poison crows. We have groups of hunters who yearly go out and cull large groups of crows with shot guns, The city actually organizes these slaughters just after Golden week when they are nesting. Takes care of two generations at once.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Your comment seems really naive in that context. As for the dog, my dog is trained not to eat anything that isn't from my hand or in her bowl. Not my problem if someone wants to poison crows.

If I'm naive then you must be really self centered. Since your dog is trained then it is completely fine for other non trained dogs to eat the poison from the ground and die. I can totally see you comforting your friend in a situation like that "hey, its your fault you didn't train your dog properly!"

If you didn't notice, I wasn't saying that reducing overpopulation of crows that are problematic is bad, but throwing poisoned bread around in the park where other animals might die eating it or worst case scenario a child playing around might just put it in their mouth and swallow it is not a really good way to fix the problem don't you think?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

There are lots of crows where I live. Big, glossy black, beautiful birds. They keep nature clean by disposing of carrion. Not their fault if people leave their nama gomi out as easy pickings.

Poisoned bread to deliberately kill crows? A sick mind at work, and as agenciq points out, totally irresponsible.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Has there ever been a study of how much fauna have been wiped out from the overpopulation of crows? It's irresponsible for letting this get out of control? Seems to me all we have here is a crow vigilantly because the town, city, prefecture, government are too scared. But the gov. has no problem culling 100's of thousands of chickens. It really irks me when I go camping in the mountains only to be woken up at dawn by a murder of crows.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

I have alwaysloved the crows; one even took bread from my hand on our balcony. They are smart and inquisitive and a living part of Tokyo. I saw with my own eyes that they also clean up behind dogs, and that's another benefit if not one you'd really like to think about.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

IF they have been poisoned what someone could be doing is mixing bicarbonate of soda with the dry bread, what happens is the birds eat the bread, the soda reacts with the fluids in its guts/stomach, this produces a gas which expands thus killing the bird, as humans we can belch to relive the said gas pressure, but a bird can't do this, this fact was told to me by some who does pest control.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Can't birds fart? Seems like there are two ways for gas to escape.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Only if someone is behind the crow die-offs, I can imagine the criminal is crowing over making the news. Hope police break the case ASAP.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Its sad but people are the real pest! The birds are natural and have acclimated to their environment while people are still trying to make it difficult for them to live! Let nature be and let the birds live, selfish humans always complaining about their own problems!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Birds don't fart. Avian intestines are short and evacuate wastes frequently.

Tell me about it. That's why I have to clean my car every 2 days. But seriously, it's a very sad thing, love crows. Exceptionally smart animals.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Very sad. Here's another perspective on how to take care of our neighbours: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canuck-the-crow-injured-community-rallies-1.4042032

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The crows will return. Oh yes they will.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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