Crows Flock To Tokyo
Beautified with their feathers, and with a tiger's heart, is a description of the crow by one admiring poet.
Well, don't praise crows to the citizens of Tokyo. They say the birds have become beasts—the crow population is at an estimated 21,000 in Tokyo and growing. Correspondent Barry Peterson reports.
Women have taken to carrying umbrellas or wearing big hats to avoid aerial attack.
They come from behind, says one woman, adding she's been attacked many times. Frightened people here complain that it's just like that movie, referring to the Alfred Hitchcock tale The Birds that scared a generation into believing that "feathered" doesn't always mean "friend."
And being friendly is exactly the problem. Crows have become so used to humans they no longer fear life in the big city.
Indeed, they're urban warriors of the first degree: Dinner out? Just peck a pile of garbage or help yourself to the occasional unattended chick. Need a nest? Just swipe a nearby coat hanger.
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Crowbusters, that's who. And that's what these people call themselves. There's a special office set up this summer, logging complaints and dispatching help. They're already overwhelmed.
And when man and crow meet, especially if that man is tearing down the crow's hearth and home, there's bloodshed—human blood being shed.
They chase them; they trap them. They even talk about eating their way out of this problem.
"I hear crow-meat pie is tasty," says Tokyo's governor.
Yes, it's war out there on Tokyo streets: folks vs. feathers. And it's altogether possible that people may come in second.