crows In Singapore, the two main types of crow are the house crow (Corvus splendens) and the large- billed crow (Corvus macrorhynchos). The large- billed crow is usually found in coastal areas and forests. It generally lives and forages away from human dwellings. The house crow, however, is a scavenger that has adapted to living off leftovers and other food waste.

House crows are thought to have travelled to Singapore on ships from India and Sri Lanka. A colony was found at the Tanjong Pagar godowns in the 1940s. By the late 1960s, some 200– 400 crows were roosting in the trees along the Tanjong Pagar dock gates. By 1968, the population had grown to about 2,000 birds islandwide. In 2001, the population was 120,000.

These crows, seen wherever waste food is readily available, represent a public health problem. The National Environment Agency has developed a two- pronged strategy to tackle the crow problem: directly reducing the population of crows, and depriving them of food sources. Island- wide crow culling, along with the implementation of programmes to improve food waste disposal, has led to the crow population dropping to 10,000 by November 2005.