the city is testing a new method to keep crows away from homes

This is a new method to promote cohabitation between inhabitants and birds. In several districts of Strasbourg (Cronenbourg, Elsau) the city will experiment with a scaring and attraction technique to relocate crow populations. An unprecedented technique, imagined by the CNRS and practiced for the first time in France.

Move away from dwellings… to attract elsewhere

“It’s gentle management, to respect the way of life of the animals, explains Marie-Christine Hamard, deputy mayor of Strasbourg in charge of animals in the city. Before, we trapped pigeons for example and then gassed them with CO2. That’s over.”

Since the beginning of February, this new device has been tested in Cronenbourg, in a street where the trees are particularly close to the houses and where the nuisances are strong during the breeding season. “For three months, starting in the spring, the females cry during the day to call the males, who take care of the food. It can be very noisy”, says Valérie Dufour, researcher at the CNRS, specialist in corvids.

To move the annoying populations, a loudspeaker will therefore be placed under a series of trees, known to be crows’ nests. Every morning, for 15 minutes, it will first broadcast a mixture of predatory cries and wing beats to prevent crows from setting up their nests in these trees. Then, a little further away, away from the houses, positive, social cries will be broadcast, to encourage them to set up in this area.

“We drive them away with war, then we attract them with love”

“Classic scaring methods are effective, the problem is that we do not know where the birds settle. There, we try to attract them to a place that is always pleasant for them, but away from dwellings “, enlightens Valérie Dufour, the origin of the device. “We drive them away with war, then we attract them with love”summarizes Guillaume Libsig, deputy in charge of urban animation.

This is the first time that such a method has been applied in France. There is therefore no guarantee of results. The operation will also be carried out in the Elsau district, at the Parc des Contades in Strasbourg, but also in Mulhouse and Sélestat. If it works, it could be adapted for relocate other species perceived as troublesome. “If we can do it with corvids, we should do it with other species”concludes Valérie Dufour.