Yet again, another municipal council decides to hold a weekend crow-shooting drive in order to reduce the numbers of crows in their jurisdiction. This time, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) is the latest to resort to this ineffective and ‘purely for show’ effort, scheduled for June 13 and 14.
As a resident and ratepayer in Subang Jaya, I am vehemently opposed to having MPSJ spend public funds on a crow-shooting drive that is a total waste of time and resources. It will clearly not solve the problem at hand. At best, it is a band-aid that will amount to nothing, leaving the problem intact because it attempts to treat the symptoms (crows) and not the root causes (indiscriminate littering and irresponsible litterbugs).
The crows appear because we humans lay the proverbial table for them. Consequently, it’s only a matter of time before MPSJ announces yet another useless crow-shooting drive “as part of its pest control efforts”.
These drives are ill-advised, knee-jerk reactions from the authorities who choose this easy ‘solution’ instead of emphasising cleanliness and proper disposal of food waste, as well as proper enforcement of relevant laws.
Why not punish and clamp down on litterbugs who litter and dump food waste indiscriminately everywhere instead? Start with the many food establishments which dispose of their waste and uneaten food inappropriately by throwing them in back alleys, lanes, and drains, or in improperly secured rubbish bins. Most drains around restaurants are clogged by uneaten and refused food which is indiscriminately thrown or allowed to flow into drains.
All these lead to infestations, not just of crows, but also of rats and cockroaches.
Municipal councils should stop trying to fool the public into thinking they are actually tackling the problem because these crow-shooting drives are purely ‘sandiwaras’ put on to show that they are doing something. Perceptions are important and the councils want to be seen as responding to peoples’ grouses and shooting crows is very visible. But this will never effectively reduce the number of crows because it doesn’t get to the problem’s roots.
More, the sound of discharging guns is a huge disturbance while crows are shot without much regard as to where their bodies fall, whether on top of cars, people, or on their property! Shot crows could potentially fall onto moving cars and cause accidents. Plus, during these drives, it is not uncommon to see spent shotgun pellet casings everywhere as shooters don’t usually pick up after themselves.
I, for one, do not want groups of testosterone-fuelled armed men roaming my neighborhood eager to practise their marksmanship and earn some money on the side. Some of them are arrogant and nasty. Others don’t even wear proper attire or identity tags designating them as licensed participants, giving rise to the potential of anyone with a gun taking advantage of an opportunity to go out and shoot it.
I’ve also been told by a local area municipal council in Selangor that during each crow-shooting campaign, it receives complaints about shooters who don’t adhere to the approved codes of conduct.
Shooting is also inhumane, condones cruelty, and sends the wrong message to children that violence toward animals and the use of firearms is okay. It teaches them to choose non-solutions because they’re easy instead of addressing the root causes. MPSJ, please stop these shooting drives and start educating the public on proper waste disposal and focusing on better enforcement instead.
