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March 13, 2010

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Presence of city’s crows nothing to cackle about

New committee on an important mission

Anonymous The Tribune-Star The Tribune Star Sat Mar 13, 2010, 11:00 PM EST

TERRE HAUTE — By March, almost every Terre Hautean is sick of the crows.

Sick of their droppings. Sick of hearing them. Sick of hearing about them. Thank heavens, our annual flock has pretty much left town for the season.

After a long, cold, lonely winter — to quote The Beatles — the last thing most people want to do is get together to talk even more about those blasted, black birds.

That’s why the 18 people willing to serve on the new Terre Haute Crow Committee deserve a round of praise. They spent more than 90 minutes brainstorming about various crow-dispersal tactics during their inaugural meeting on Feb. 23. Some committee members explained the birds’ impact around their places of work, such as Union Hospital and Indiana State University. Others came armed with wildlife expertise, such as experts from Indiana State and Purdue universities. Some represented groups concerned about the affected residents’ quality of life.

Together, they mulled ways to break up and scare off the crows, who arrive each September in roosts ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 and stay till March. They bandied about ideas, varying from setting off daily rounds of pyrotechnics and fireworks to using laced bait, recorded crow death cries, stuffed-crow effigies and organized hunts.

As wearisome as the topic has become, the committee participants seemed resolute about finding an affordable way to mitigate the problem.

And it is a problem.

Until the crows descend upon your house, your business, your job place, your church, your school or your favorite restaurant, they elicit little more than a chuckle and a shrug from most of us. But once the birds pick your location as a hangout, the mess and smell make clear their impact.

Thousands of white, gooey splotches on rooftops, sidewalks and doorways of a business will gross out even the most understanding customers. Visitors to our city shouldn’t be expected to just shrug and grin as they tip-toe through the poop piles. The newly formed Terre Haute Crow Committee understands those realities.

The panel also realizes the financial straits Terre Haute faces from a decrease in city revenue. So the committee faces the challenge of building a game plan to disrupt the crows’ routine with minimal funding. As Keith Ruble, superintendent of the Vigo County Parks Department, emphasized, some volunteer groups may be interested in joining the fight. Volunteerism is a key component of anti-crow efforts in another hard-hit city, Lancaster, Pa.

The battle to rattle the crows could be taken up as a community service project by organizations such as ISU or Rose-Hulman fraternities, local Eagle Scouts, senior citizens, or supervised jail or prison inmates.

Mayor Duke Bennett attended the crow committee meeting, and has embraced the group’s intention to prepare a strategy by this summer. (Their next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. March 23 in the Vigo County Public Library.) Then, when the crows begin arriving in September, the city will be ready to make the birds feel as unwelcome as possible. That counter-offensive will likely have to be repeated year after year. It must also consist of a mix of tactics, not just one silver bullet.

If it works, Terre Haute will give other crow-weary cities something to talk about.

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