The radius of the safety zone around the shooter typically ranges from 15m to 100m, said Mr Soh Ze Bin, NParks’ director for wildlife management and outreach.
Each member of the team also has their role clearly labelled on the back of their vests, such as “crow culler” and “operation commander”.
“House crows are a non-native invasive species to Singapore. It poses a threat to our local biodiversity, and in great numbers, they also cause disamenities to our residents, causing incessant noise and also soiling and safety issues,” said Mr Soh.
He said that shooting is a last resort, with other measures including trapping, nest removal and reducing food sources for the birds.
Before each culling exercise, NParks also reaches out to residents in nearby housing estates to inform them, so that they will not be alarmed, said Mr Soh.
COMPLEMENTING EXISTING EFFORTS
Crow shooting operations were stopped in 2020 following incidents in which pellets from shotguns struck nearby homes.
This time round, the shootings are being carried out by licensed wildlife management contractors who are certified in the handling of firearms, NParks said.
In the past, volunteer shooters from the Singapore Gun Club were involved in cullings, but the programme ended in the early 2010s after crow shooting licences were not renewed.
The authorities also enlisted the services of Certis CISCO at one point, but that also stopped after an auxiliary police officer was jailed for killing crows with a shotgun and without a safety officer present.