Sir: Crows in Chatham-Kent are akin to visitors to Niagara Falls. Attendance may vary pending the time of year, but visitors like crows remain steady.
Crow control has overwhelmingly proven useless and 100% ineffective, costing taxpayers, according to records we obtained from municipal hall, almost $1 million from 1998 inclusive of 2012 or nearly a 1% tax hike.
Our office has been involved with this project since day one and has about 25 years of study of the crow family, researching the systematics of these birds.
Although our office introduced Chatham-Kent with the bird removal contractor, we soon learned the contractor had no record of success removing crow populations. We then pleaded with the municipality not to retain the contractor. As with each costing we submit instructing the municipality not to proceed, they do so anyway, ending in heavy financial liability for taxpayers rather than dividends. Additionally, our office did a forensic count on the number of Chatham-Kent’s feathered homesteaders, which accurately and realistically number between 12,000 to 14,000 not the reported two to 20 million being promoted. Our records cannot be successfully challenged.
The numbers being touted are apparition-like and based on shear guesswork. Such is important in the event Chatham-Kent tenders to remove a million crows when only the former number exists. Such fantasy numbers only drive up the cost of contracted tenders, which taxpayers end up paying the unnecessary high costs, once again, which continues to add to our imbalanced municipal gross costs to net profit – continuing to create a weaker local economy.
Landscape photos of the flock then and now clearly show no decline in crow population in Chatham-Kent since 1998 and during the tenure of the bird control contractor to 2012, and to date.
Crows in concentration, although an affective and a necessary entity in our overall eco-system, can also be extremely damaging in urban areas, costing retailers heavy in commercial damage as well as personal liability due to concentration of bird droppings, as has been the case. We met with Chatham-Kent for two hours recently to demonstrate the most effective and least expensive way to dismiss the flock. The most inexpensive and effective method we introduced was also supported by Dr. Kevin McGowan of Cornell University.
In 1998 we also met with the municipality, council members and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Chatham-Kent Police Service. The MNR was opposed to any shooting then as they are now.
Our office opposes another $1 million wasted again on a fantasy that may be chosen to relocate the crows.
John Cryderman
Chatham-Kent
