The Daily News of 12.01.2001, highlighted a most distressing report about crows and garbage in its front page.

If one travels down Cotta Road, alias N. M. Perera Mawatha, recently partly bulldozed — partly since some selfish or politically motivated citizens, appear to be obstructing this — for road widening; the spectacle of middle aged ladies dumping kitchen garbage as food for crows and dogs, outside the N. M. Perera Centre and other fortress like residences, is a common sight. It is most unworthy in a civic minded nation.

It would indeed be doomsday — environmentally and epidemic-wise — if we lull ourselves into a euphoria awaiting the clearing of our garbage, or for our highly literate and vociferous Sri Lankans to cease their penchant for dumping garbage on a neighbour’s roadside with gay abandon.

Can we not directly control the crow population of our cities — like the direct control of other living organisms spreading deadly diseases, malaria, polio, small pox, buboni plague, etc. Cities like Singapore have controlled the breeding of crows.

Feeding crows has a religious or cultural significance. One recollects, kindly old ladies and others, on breezy morns at Independence Square, feeding crows.

They showed shock and displeasure, if one decried this short-sighted habit. When crows rocketed down from their nests, and attacked the scarfed heads of these kindly ladies — in addition to dropping their block-busters on moving targets — the exclaim "these d — crows!"

To prevent an epidemic and other disastrous perturbations, one solution may be to appoint a Deputy Minister to Control Crows and Garbage.

W. R. H. Perera
Colombo 8