Keeping trash safe: Tokyo battles crow nuisance with high-tech ‘crow controller’. Watch how it works
Crows and Japan
Japanese capital Tokyo has for some time been battling with 'murder(s) of crows' which have become a problem for people, especially on trash days. The scavenger birds are known to tear open garbage bags and create a mess. However, a machine that tells the birds to "buzz off" has shown success.
'Buzz off'
The machine called the 'Crow Controller' tells the birds to get out of there in their own language.
It is equipped with an infrared sensor that emits 10-second bursts of angry caws when it detects a heat source within 3-4 metres. Users are supposed to put it near garbage collection centres.
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The shoe-box-sized speaker was developed by Crow Lab, a crow damage consulting firm in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture.
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The caws are real recordings of crows collected from over 10,000 of their voice samples over 20 years. Crow Lab, as per Japan Today, was able to "isolate the specific cries that crow use to communicate when a threat such as a cat or hawk is nearby".
Does it work?
A trial of the product, conducted from June to September last year, found that the Crow Controller displayed immediate effects in some of their most crow-ravaged garbage collection points in the city.
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Watch the machine in action:
Not only crows, but the little device as per Japan Today seems to affect human behaviour as well. The device which is triggered by body heat was found to make people extra careful about putting away their garbage. How? The cawing sound made people think crows were nearby, which would make them carefully put away their trash.
(With inputs from agencies)
