Man was out on bail for theft, cheating charges when he allegedly damaged NParks’ crow traps
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Mohd Yusrin Mohd Yusof’s latest alleged offences caused trapped crows to escape. He appeared in court via video-link on March 6.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
SINGAPORE – A man accused of cheating and theft was out on bail when he allegedly damaged traps the National Parks Board (NParks) had deployed to manage the crow population.
Mohd Yusrin Mohd Yusof’s latest alleged offences resulted in trapped crows escaping.
He appeared in court via video-link on March 6 and was charged with two counts of mischief. He now faces four charges in all, including one count each of cheating and theft.
According to court documents, Yusrin, 50, was in Jurong Gateway Road at around 4.30pm on June 10, 2025 when he allegedly duped a woman into handing him a bottle of beer worth $8.50.
He is also accused of stealing a bottle of beer that day.
He was charged in court in 2025 and was released on bail of $5,000.
On March 2, at around 11pm, he allegedly lifted and toppled a crow trap that was placed on a grass patch near Block 51, Havelock Road. A bird escaped because of that.
Shortly before 12.40am the next day, he allegedly broke a lock securing a trap and three birds got away.
In an earlier statement, the police said that with the help of CCTV footage, officers managed to identify Yusrin, who was arrested on March 4.
His pre-trial conference will take place on March 11.
This was the second case in recent weeks involving the disruption of an NParks operation to manage the crow population.
On Jan 27, Tan See Chee, 77, was fined $500 after he pleaded guilty to a mischief charge.
In October 2025, NParks engaged a company called Bird Management to conduct crow population management operations in Lorong 4 Toa Payoh.
The company set up a bird trap on a grass patch near Block 181.
Tan spotted the trap on Oct 20 that year and saw that cable ties had been used to secure it.
He cut the cable ties with a pair of scissors, opened the door to the trap and three birds escaped.
Court documents, however, did not state if the birds were crows.
In February, Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat noted that the number of reports about crows, as well as incidents involving such birds clashing with people, has gone up.
In 2025 alone, the Municipal Services Office received about 15,000 reports on crow-related issues, triple that of 2020, when there were nearly 5,000 reports.
These included reports about noise, feeding and soiling.
Complaints about crow attacks had also surged to over 2,000 cases in 2025, compared with more than 460 in 2020.
Mr Chee had said: “If the crow population continues to grow, it will affect the safety of our residents as there will be more and more crow-related attacks.
“We should not wait for this to happen before we take action. I have therefore asked NParks to bring back shooting as one of the measures to reduce the crow population in Singapore.”
Crow shooting operations began as early as 1973.
In previous years, trained shooters were engaged to carry out crow culling operations around the island.
The Ministry of National Development discontinued the shooting of crows in 2020, due to incidents of pellets striking nearby homes.
Such cases were caused by human error, including non-compliance with safety protocols, and enforcement action was taken against those involved, said Mr Chee.
The authorities have planned to resume shooting the birds after alternative control methods have been inadequate.
