Singapore’s crow population rose to 160,000 in 2024: NParks

SINGAPORE – The number of crows in Singapore grew by more than 20 times over less than a decade, The Straits Times has learnt.

On Feb 23, the authorities announced that they planned to resume the shooting of crows in March after a six-year hiatus, as alternative population control methods were deemed inadequate amid a rise in reports about crow attacks.

Shooting had been discontinued in 2020 after instances of pellets striking residences.

Based on the National Parks Board’s (NParks) latest population survey, the number of house crows (Corvus splendens) was about 160,000 in 2024, the board’s group director for wildlife management, Mr How Choon Beng, told ST.

This is more than 20 times the figure cited in an earlier population study in 2016, when shooting operations still took place, with the birds on mainland Singapore numbering about 7,295 then.

Mr How said the use of firearms adds to the existing suite of measures to control the country’s crow population, which includes removing nests, deploying traps and pruning trees to reduce the number of birds that roost there.

This approach was chosen as crows are an invasive species that pose a threat to native biodiversity and can attack humans, especially when they are perceived as threats to their young.

Droppings from the birds also create unsanitary conditions where they gather and roost.

The availability of food is a key driver behind the crows’ population growth, said Mr How, adding that NParks conducts targeted enforcement against illegal feeding of birds.

“The distribution of crows in Singapore is relatively widespread across the island,” he said, when asked for hot spots that the birds flock to.

“However, feedback cases are concentrated in urban areas due to the availability of food, including human food sources.”

Similarly, Singapore’s oldest nature group, Nature Society Singapore (NSS), has noticed the crow population rising over the years based on its surveys from 2023 to 2025.

NSS assistant director of conservation Albert Liu said the society recognises that house crows are an invasive species and that unchecked populations can have an impact on native wildlife.

He stressed that culling should remain a short-term measure used as a last resort to control the population, after effective and humane methods have been exhausted.

Said Mr Liu: “In the spirit of being a ‘City in Nature’, it’s not just about treating nature as a space and commodity, but also society’s attitude, tolerance and behaviour towards wildlife.”

Meanwhile, informal collective Urban Birds Initiative Singapore is questioning the choice to take up guns against crows without engaging the community. The group of residents was formed after intensified efforts in 2024 to cut down the pigeon population, which included means such as culling.

The group’s co-founder, Ms Lim Li Yin, called for an independent survey of public attitudes towards different urban wildlife species and preferences for population control measures to understand how the community feels about the matter.

The educator said: “We believe most people are kind, and being inconvenienced by or fearful of house crows does not automatically mean one supports killing them, especially once non-lethal ways to co-exist are made known. Residents who do not mind, or even enjoy, the presence of urban birds might not think to write to town councils, so their views often remain unheard.”

Ms Lim, who emphasised the need for an ethical approach, suggested that community forums with information about the birds’ actual impact on ecosystems and public health could be conducted before management measures are implemented.

“It would be helpful to understand which communities were engaged and the consultation processes that informed the decision to resume crow shooting and urban bird culling generally,” she said.

“A more transparent and inclusive consultation process would support a kinder, more curious and less polarised conversation around human-wildlife co-existence.”

The group is also advocating the protection of four species of urban birds, including house crows, to be recognised by the Wildlife Act, such that lethal control can take place only with evidence of actual ecological or public health impact.

Separately, a Singapore Gun Club spokesperson told ST that the club is ready to help out in shooting operations involving crows, if necessary.

The club, founded in the early 1950s, was once roped in to help with such efforts, with those taking part comprising national shooters and long-time members.

The representative recalled: “A normal operation usually takes three to four hours.

“After the volunteers, in teams of at least two members, draw their guns, collect dead birds and return their guns to the armoury, it is a six- to seven-hour obligation.”

However, the club’s involvement ended when licences were discontinued after the National Shooting Centre was closed in early 2016 for a security review by the authorities.

House crows first made landfall in Singapore by the 1940s, as observed by the Raffles Museum’s last British director Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill.

A study published in 2016 found that the species living here has an unexpectedly high level of genetic diversity, which researchers attributed to Singapore’s status as a port city that receives high volumes of shipping traffic.

Based on the samples analysed, Singapore’s crow population likely originated from those that hitchhiked on ships from various countries, including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Upon arrival, the crows’ omnivorous appetite and ability to forage and roost in urban landscapes enabled them to spread and establish their nests across Singapore.

By 2001, the species dramatically increased to about 130,000, according to a 2003 study, up from about 200 to 400 observed by bird scientist Peter Ward in the 1960s.

The 2003 study also found that while Asian koels help to reduce the population of house crows by taking over their nests, the native species affected only five out of 68 nests observed.

To reduce the crow population, the study’s researchers proposed the mass culling of crows over a decade, in tandem with other management strategies like destroying their nests and limiting resources to control their numbers.

They concluded then that completely eradicating the species could be an unrealistic goal due to the difficulty of detecting crow population densities and the influx of crows from neighbouring Malaysia.