On the restaurant terraces of one of Mombasa’s most exclusive hotels, armed watchmen await the approaching marauders.
But the guards posted at strategic points around the Voyager Hotel, or patrolling its restaurants and grounds, are armed not with rifles, but with catapults.
Their mission is to protect guests from the flocks of audacious Indian house crows which are constantly poised to grab food from the diners’ plates and which plague the Kenyan port city.
The crows have been part of the city’s fabric since they first arrived decades ago, but their numbers are growing rapidly, and with it the nuisance they cause.
“Outdoor restaurants are now in danger,” says Wasike Wasike, group operations manager for the Heritage Hotels chain which includes the Voyager.
“When people eat outside it is like they are competing with these birds. It is becoming counterproductive to invest in a five-star hotel when you are going to be invaded by birds.”
Fatuma Mishi’s small fishmonger’s stall in Vikwatani market may be a smaller business, but it has the same problem. She must pay a boy 30p from her meagre daily takings to swat away the invasive crow species.
“You cannot take away your eyes from your wares. The moment you do so, these birds swoop and prey on my fish. Or they defecate on your wares and so I pay this boy a small fee to protect me and my produce,” she complains.
“And they are violent, sometimes they attack me to reach the fish.”
Conservationists and public health experts say the voracious scavenger is more than an annoyance. The crows are savagely out-competing or even preying on local bird species and they also carry disease.
They are now also advancing inland from their stronghold on the Indian Ocean coast, riding a wave of rapid urbanisation in Kenya which brings the rubbish dumps and waste where they thrive.
The Kenyan government’s solution is a mass cull of the crows. It plans to kill as many as a million of the birds by the end of the year, before they can spread further.
Earlier this month, officials began a poisoning campaign using a bait laced with a specialist slow-acting compound called Starlicide which is highly toxic to crows, starlings and rooks, while less poisonous to other birds and animals.
Somewhere between one and two million Indian house crows are estimated to live along the Kenyan coast and they are migrating deeper into the country. Kenya’s neighbours in East Africa and beyond are also plagued by the species, with several also resorting to poison.
“It is high time this invasive species was eradicated to stop the cumulative negative ecological and social effects of this species along the east African coast,” says John Musina, an ornithologist and conservationist with the National Museums of Kenya.
Wildlife officials in June described the crows as “invasive alien birds that have been a nuisance to the public for decades, significantly affecting local bird populations by driving them from their natural habitats”.
The crows, known to scientists as Corvus splendens, are native to much of South and South East Asia. The slender, glossy black birds, grow to around 40cm (16in) have large beaks and lighter grey “collar”.
They have spread further afield either on ships, or by being deliberately introduced in the belief they would help manage rodents and rubbish.
‘Aggressive and opportunistic’
The crows were brought to the nearby island of Zanzibar in the 1890s to help tackle a mounting waste problem in what was then a British protectorate. They then spread along the coast and were first recorded in Mombasa in 1947.
In all, they are thought to have found their way to as many as 36 countries outside their native range.
While in Asia they are held in check by monkeys, snakes, birds of prey and rival crow species, in their new homes, they appear to have no natural predators, according to the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD).
Conservationists blame the crows for significantly reducing the number of small indigenous birds, such as weavers and waxbills, by ripping their nests apart while targeting eggs and chicks.
Dr Mwenda Mbaka, an expert in veterinary public health and pest control, said: “House crows are aggressive and opportunistic feeders. They feed on the eggs, chicks and even adult birds of native species, leading to a decline in local bird population.”
Small reptiles, mammals and invertebrates also fall victim to the crows and their habit of preying on chicks and eggs plagues free range poultry farmers by preying on chicks and their eggs.
House crows also carry at least eight human diseases in their guts, though the GISD says that a link with the spread to humans is yet to be established.
Some of the Indian Crows in Mombasa, Kenya
House crows also carry at least eight human diseases in their guts – Mohamed Marufu
Dr Mbaka said: “The house crow poses a significant threat to both human and environmental well being in the Coast.
“Its survival is bolstered by easy access to garbage and other waste. Additionally, it is an aggressive and intelligent bird, omnivorous and faces few natural threats in the local environment.”
Diseases associated with the crows and their droppings include bird flu, West Nile virus, and several parasitic, bacterial, and fungal infections, he said.
To make the cull as effective as possible, and also to reduce the chances of killing other birds, the crows are gradually lured to where they will be killed.
Months of pre-baiting leaves meat out to encourage them to gather at specific sites near their roost sites.
When the crows are attending in high numbers, the poison is deployed.
“The globally recognised product [Starlicide] is an effective method that poses negligible risks to no target animals and humans if applied by experts,” says Dr Mbaka.
In the meantime, Mombasa’s restaurateurs, hoteliers and shopkeepers must continue to wage their daily war against the birds.
“You chase them, they do not even move far away. They perch on the next roof and suddenly re-emerge to snatch away fish and to attack,” complains Ms Mishi.
(The Telegraph)