199

Administrative Measures against Crows
Masaki OKUYAMA
North-Kanto Regional Office for Nature Conservation,
Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministry of the Environment,
9-5 Honcho, Nikko, Tochigi 321-1434, Japane-mail:masaki_okuyama@env.go.jp

Abstract
Conflicts concerning the coexistence of crows and humans and administrative efforts for combating these problems have a long history. Generally, the practical aspects of adopting administrative
measures against crow issues rest with the local government. If capture is necessary, it should be
conducted under guidelines of the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law. There is a need, however
maximize preventive efforts before resorting to capture programs, and these are being conducted byeach local government section for agricultural promotion or waste management. Recently, conflicts
between humans and crows have increased in urban areas and many local governments have been
suffering from these problems. In Tokyo, the government has launched an urgent project, including
aggressive capture programs, to decrease the population of crows in response to rising complaints fromurban residents about crows associated with their increase in the city.
The Ministry of the Environment made educational and promotional efforts in order to reduce thetrouble between crows and city dwellers. It is expected that with regard to important procedures leading to solving the conflict between man and crows, cooperation among related sections within agovernment and/or among neighboring governments will be essential. Promotional efforts of the
Ministry of the Environment are aimed at enhancing the flow of information and wisdom among all theparties concerned.
Key words: administrative measure, local government, pest control, Wildlife Protection and Hunting
Law

1. The Relationship between the Japanese
People and Crows
The relationship between the Japanese people andcrows has a long history. The bones of crows havebeen found at a shell mound dating to the Jomon Era(10,000-300 B.C.). Crows were treated as holy beingsin the early scripts such as “Kojiki” or “Nippon
Shoki”; for example, the “Yata-Garasu” led the Emperor Jinmu on his eastbound advance. On the other
hand, there are superstitions such as, “When the crow
calls, someone will die,” or “If the crows call in theevening, something unusual will happen.” These
give crows the image of misfortune. Interestingly,
white or light-colored crows were highly valued.
Moreover, crows have also been used by farmers for
agricultural fortune-telling. Considering these numerous accounts, crows are certainly a wildlife very
close to the Japanese people (Kawachi & Endo, 2000).
While crows have been popular, they have also
been a source of trouble for humans since ancient
times. People have thought of crows as well as sparrows, pigeons, and ducks as harmful to agriculture,

damaging crops and eating fruits. Farmers have invented various measures such as scarecrows, drums
and castanets in order to scare them off the fields(Tsukamoto, 1983).
We can also learn of the conditions from Edo Era‘rakugo’ stories and ‘senryu’ short poems that people
could not sleep well because crows made lots of noisein the morning. This sounds like an early case of therecent conflicts between man and crows of the city
type. Crows were numerous and had been living inclose proximity to humans in the city of Edo. C. A.
McVean and E. S. Morse, who stayed in Japan fromthe late Edo Era to the early Meiji Era, also noted thiswith surprise in their reports (Matsuda, 1999).
In the time of the 7th Shogun of Edo (Tsunayoshi
Tokugawa), at the end of the 1600s, there was a recordof transporting crows and kites to the Izu Islands andreleasing them, because their populations had became
too large in the urban area of Edo, but killing the birds
was prohibited during this period under the“Shorui-awaremi-no-rei” ordinance (Endo, 1994).
After this prohibition was repealed, the birds were
hunted in a disorderly manner. In 1722, hunting

200

M. OKUYAMA

period restrictions were established for some birds, including crows. Later regulations, established in 1873,
were regarded as measures to proceed with extermination of crows and cormorants. In those days, thegovernment officials of the new Meiji Government
visited and observed foreign countries and thoughtthat it was a national disgrace that so many crows andcormorants were flying in Tokyo, as they were hardly
seen in the cities of other advanced countries. Therefore, they had an extermination team of young policemen organized under the Metropolitan Police (The
Editorial Committee of the Encyclopedia of Hunting,1973). Thus, friction between crows and humans
and administrative efforts for dealing with crows are
not recent phenomena.

2. Status of Crows in the Wildlife Protectionand Hunting Regulations
2.1 Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law
The wildlife of Japan, including crows, is protectedby the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law, which
was established in 1918 and fully amended in 2002.
The purpose of this law is prescribed as, “to protect wildlife and to effectuate hunting through the execution of projects for wildlife protection, preventionof damage to residential environments, agriculture,
forestry, fisheries and natural ecosystem and the prevention of danger caused by hunting, for the purposeof contribution to the conservation of biodiversity, theimprovement of residential environments and thepromotion of agriculture, forestry and fisheries as well
as for endowing lives with the gifts of the natural environment and prosperity of local communities” (temporary translation). This means basically: 1) wildlife
is useful to agriculture, forestry and fisheries as wellas to residential environments for humans; 2) bothpest control and effectual hunting are needed for wildlife management and ecosystem conservation; 3) therefore, protecting wildlife and controlling hunting contribute to the welfare of citizens and local communities.
2.2 Crows as game species
Game species shall be designated by the Ministerof the Environment, in consultation with the Central
Environment Council, holding hearings with theparties concerned. A total of 29 avian (Table 1) and18 mammalian species are presently designated on thelist. Three species of crows, namely, the rook
(Corvus frugilegus), carrion crow (C. corone), andjungle crow (C. macrorhynchos) were designated asgame species in the first designation of 1918. As arule, hunting chicks and collecting eggs are prohibited,
however.
Any individual who intends to hunt must be
granted an appropriate hunting license issued by andregistered with the prefectural governor of the intended place of hunting. Hunting licenses are classified into three types according to the equipment used:

traps or nets, shotguns or rifles, and air guns or gas
guns.
Hunting is prohibited in places such as permanentor temporary wildlife protection areas, roads, parks
designated by the Minister of the Environment,
temple/shrine precincts, and cemeteries. The hunting
season is also regulated. Currently, the hunting season is from November 15 to February 15 (fromOctober 1 to January 31 in Hokkaido). In addition to
the prohibition of using items such as mist nets, whichcause indiscriminate slaughter, the use of large-caliber
firearms, explosives, and powerful poisons is prohibited in order to maintain public safety.
A total of 90,000-100,000 crows of all three species are hunted annually (Fig.1). About 90％ ofthem are hunted using shotguns.
2.3 Permission to manage crows in pest control
programs
Crows which are considered a potential threat toagricultural products may be captured for repellant
purposes with the permission of the prefectural
governor in order to minimize the damage. Capturefor other purposes such as for scientific research isalso approved. The prefectural governor can transfer
his/her authority to grant permission to the mayor by
ordinance. Any individual who intends to remove
the nest of a crow needs the same permission if chicks
or eggs are present in the nest. Approximately 5,000
eggs are collected annually under these regulations.
The total number of crows captured annually underthese regulations has been about 300,000 – 350,000
Table 1

Game bird species of Japan.
English nameblack-crowned night heron
mallardspot-billed duckcommon teal
falcated duckeurasian wigeon
northern pintail
northern shoveler
common pochardtufted duck
greater scaup
common scoterhazel grousejapanese quailcopper pheasant
green pheasantchinese bamboo partridge
common moorhen
eurasian woodcock
common snipe
rufous turtle dovebrown-eared bulbul
russet sparrow
eurasian tree sparrowgray starlingrookcarrion crowjungle crow

Scientific name
Nycticorax nycticorax
Anas platyrhynchos
Anas poecilorhyncha
Anas crecca
Anas falcata
Anas penelope
Anas acuta
Anas clypeata
Aythya ferina
Aythya fuligula
Ahthya marila
Melanitta nigra
Tetrastes bonasia
Coturnix coturnix
Syrmaticus soemmeringii
Phasianus colchicus
Bambusicola thoracica
Gallinula chloropus
Scolopax rusticola
Gallinago gallinago
Streptopelia orientalis
Hypsipetes amaurotis
Passer rutilans
Passer montanus
Sturnus cineraceus
Corvus frugilegus
Corvus corone
Corvus macrorhynchosAdministrative Measures against Crows

201

400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
hunting
pest control

200,000
150,000
100,000
50,00001923 19301933 19401943 19501953 1960
1963 1970
1973 1980
1983 1990
1993 2000

Fig. 1 Number of crows captured in hunting and pest control.

(Fig.1) in the past 20 years.
Crow control in an agricultural context is conducted in all prefectures of Japan. The amount ofdamage caused by crows is the most of pronounced ofthat among birds. Crows cause damage to crops
such as corn, tomatoes, watermelons, cabbages, andpotatoes (Eguchi et al., 2002).
There are two different types of control program,preventative control (yosatsu-kujo), and regular pest
control (taisho-kujo), which is carried out after
damage is confirmed. Preventive control is a system
aimed at preventing damage to crops in an area inwhich continuing damage by crows has been
confirmed under the Wildlife Protection Project Plan,
which is established by each prefectural governor
every 5 years. This measure is taken on condition
that the population of the target species of wildlife in
the area is large, and that capturing a part of thispopulation is expected to be effective in driving therest of the population away from the affected areas.
This measure is taken against crows as they nest on
power pylons to prevent short circuits, and against
populations of crows on farms that experience crop
damage annually.
Generally, the practical units of such control are
hunting organizations or pest control companies,
which are requested by the local government to carryout the control measures, as well as the local governments themselves. These tasks are planned and conducted by each section of the local governments
concerned, corresponding to the part of the administration receiving requests from residents or farmers
such as waste management, sanitation, park service
and agriculture, depending on whether pertains to residential environments or agricultural issues.
2.4 Specified Wildlife Management Plans
When a local population of a wildlife species
increases or decreases drastically, the prefectural
governor can make a plan to control the populationand manage its habitat with the aim of stabilizing the
local wildlife population so as to achieve harmonious
co-existence between humans and wildlife. This
planning system was established in 1999. When aprefectural governor decides that this measure isnecessary to achieve the goal of management, he/she
has plans established, which may include relaxation of
the hunting regulations, such as extending the hunting
season for the target species.
The target species of Specified Wildlife Management Plans are not limited under the law, but no plans
have been established for birds, much less for crows.
Plans have so far been established for Mammals (deer,
serows, bears, monkeys and boars). These mammal
species are probably suitable as target species of thisplan because techniques for surveying, clarifying andmonitoring their population levels are comparatively
well established, whereas for birds, some of theseprerequisite conditions are missing.
When establishing this plan for crows, population
control alone will not be effective. Habitat management or damage prevention efforts should be the main
control measures for crows.
I believe that establishing such a plan for crows
would be significant in establishing a unit of workforce to effectively complete a series of measures,such as initial surveying, monitoring and feedback
regarding the effectiveness of the plan. Moreovercooperation among government departments andpublic involvement will be indispensable towardachieving this goal (Okuyama, 2002).

3. Administrative Measures against
Crow-related Conflicts
3.1 Measures by local governments on crow issues
Generally, practical control measures against
crows are taken up through administrative measures in
the local government. If pest control becomes necessary, birds are captured on the basis of the Wildlife

202

M. OKUYAMA

Protection and Hunting Law, as mentioned above.
However, the basic guideline specified by the Ministerof the Environment dictates that maximal preventative
measures be taken before pest control.
When preventive measures against agricultural
damage are carried out, this is done by farmers, who
use methods such as scarecrows, model carcasses ofcrows, bird avoidance nets, and detonation machines.
It is the role of agricultural administration departmentsin the local government to support these measureswith technical guidance and financial help. City andvillage governments generally provide financial support, but prefectural governments may sometimes also
give assistance. In any case there is usually cooperation among agricultural groups, such as the agricultural cooperatives and land improvement corporations.
Damage to residential environments has become aproblem in Tokyo in recent years. For example, garage scattering is becoming a problem, and preventive
methods such as reducing the amount of garbage,
blocking crows physically with nets over the garbage,and shifting garbage collection hours away from thefeeding times of crows have been suggested.
The waste and/or sanitary administration of thecities and villages takes many charge of the waste
management according to its areas of responsibility.

from trees if intimidation or attacks on people haveoccurred, as an “urgent capture model project” inorder to cope with this problem. In the past, nest removal was considered the responsibility of the tree’sowner. In this project, however, 875 nests were removed in the three years to 2002 by the Metropolitan
Government. No additional intimidation or attacks
were observed after removal that year, so the Metropolitan Government stated that this was an effective
method (Mitani & Momozawa, 2002).
Because complaints from residents about crows
have not decreased in spite of the urgent capture
project, the Tokyo Government established a special
project team for planning measures against crows at
the calling of governor, Shintaro Ishihara, who professed a dislike for crows on September 3, 2001.
This project team, consisting of 18 staff members,
examined the problem from the points of view ofvarious fields and put together a report on a plan formeasures on September 28. Next, public commentson this report were solicited from the residents until
October 26, and then the basic policy was publishedon November 16. It consisted of two main measures:
better management of garbage and controlling thecrow population itself, mainly through capturing bytraps (Fig. 3) (Crow Issues Project Team, 2001).
As part of garbage management, the team decided
to encourage implementation of garbage collection atnight or at individual houses, and promotion of the useof bird-proof nets by the districts, cities, and villages
in charge of the waste management. Moreover, theydecided to request positive cooperation from theresidents to observe proper manners when putting out
garbage.
As for capturing crows, about 60％ of the residents who offered an opinion about the capture
showed approval, while more than a few people held
the opposite opinion because of doubts about theeffects of the capture program or about animal welfare.
NGOs such as the Wild Bird Society of Japan andsome animal welfare groups have stated that capture is

3.2 Measures by the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government
In Tokyo, which has a population of 12 million, thecrow population began increasing in the 1970s, benefiting from large quantities of garbage discharged in
the city. Complaints about crows received by the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government have increased by afactor of five over the past three years (Fig. 2). The
subjects of the majority of the complaints were intimidation and/or attacks by crows, noisiness, and garbage
scattering, and about 60％ of complaints were received during the breeding season of the crow from April
to June. In 2000, the Tokyo government (Forestry
Section) started to undertake removal of crow nests

3,500

2,939

3,000
2,500
2,000
1,298

1,500
1,000

594

511

1998

1999

500
0

2000

fiscal year

2001
(Apr.-July)Fig. 2 Number of complaints received by Tokyo Government (Crow Issues Project Team,2001).

Administrative Measures against Crows

not an effective way to solve the crow problem andthat what the Tokyo government is trying to do willamount to wasteful slaughter (Wild Bird Society ofJapan, 2003). An animal protection group organizeda street performance in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government at the time calling for a softlanding with less cruelty to crows. The Tokyo
Government mentioned two reasons for promoting
capture. Firstly, if it promotes only garbage control
measures, the crows will move to other areas, and thedamage will expand. Secondly, there is concern thatcrows starving under the garbage measures, will prey
more heavily on wild animals and this will have a bad
influence on the urban ecosystem.
As a result of these debates, the Tokyo Government has decided to promote the capture of crows,
with an eye toward efficiently carrying out policies toverify the effects of the capture by conducting a
population census twice that year and to reconsider

203

placement of the traps according to the results.
The Tokyo Government captured 4,210 crows with
100 traps in 2001, and 12,000 crows using 120 traps
in 2002. In the 2002 investigation, damage to 4,000
garbage stations in the 23-ward area had decreased(−1.7% in the rate of damage) compared to the levels
in 2001 (64%) and also the population of crows,
which had been about 36,500 was counted as 35,400.
The Tokyo Government stated the crow population
seemed have decreased for the first time since 1985,
but the difference observed is too small to thinksignificant.
In 2003, the target number for capture wasincreased to 13,000, and moreover, a decision wasmade to strengthen cooperation with the four neighboring prefectures through exchange of know-how
regarding capture, cooperative investigation of populations, and obtaining compliance with garbage measures (Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2003).

Fig. 3 Trap for crows used by Tokyo Government (Crow Issues Project Team, 2001).
The prototype of this trap was invented by Ikeda City, Hokkaido in the late 1980s(Fukumatsu, 1998).

204

M. OKUYAMA

3.3 Educational measures by the Ministry of theEnvironment.
Since conflicts between humans and crows had recently increased in urban areas and many local governments (about 37% in 1992) (Japanese Association for
Preservation of Birds, 1994) had been suffering fromthis problem, the Ministry of the Environment carriedout educational and promotion campaigns in 1999 tosupport a reduction in friction between crows and citydwellers. A total of 100,000 pamphlets and 4,000
videotapes for city dwellers were distributed to local
governments throughout Japan. These materials explain the causes of the problems, preventative measures, recommended attitudes towards crows, andother related topics. Both materials were produced
in Japanese, with production work done by the Wild
Bird Society of Japan and the Japanese Association
for Preservation of Birds (Environment Agency,
2000).
In 2000, a case study was conducted in five areas
in and around Tokyo to focus on developing effective
measures to prevent crows from scattering garbage on
the streets. It consisted of experimental garbage
collection at night or at each house, using nets or
foldaway wire netting boxes, and investigating thestate of damage (Okuyama, 2002).
Moreover, the Ministry held a symposium called“Crow Forum 2001 – How local governments tackle
the crow problems” on March 11, 2001 in Tokyo, so
as to publicize original measures devised by someadministrations to tackle problems associated withcrows. About 150 people, including government
officials and researchers participated in this forum.
The results of the case study and the forum werelater published in 2001 by the Ministry as the “Manual
for solving crow issues for local government officials”(Fig.4). A total of 5,000 handbooks were distributed
to local governments all over Japan. This manual istargeted at local government officials who deal
directly with complaints from citizens against crows,
and who organize and carry out measures to solvecrow issues. Furthermore, this report explains thebasic biology and ecology of crows, recommends aproper approach to troubles caused by crows and also
provides answers to common questions from thegeneral public. Because most of the officials inmany sections of local governments which are suffering from crow problems are not experts on ecology or
wildlife management, this manual explains the basic
knowledge of this field in simple terms and how it
works in making long-term programs in simple terms.
The procedures recommended by this manual will
work best with the cooperation of sections inside thegovernment and/or among neighboring governments,
which are confronted with crow problems.

Fig. 4 Manual published by the Ministry of the Environment.
It can be downloaded at web site.
http://www.env.go.jp/nature/karasu-m/index.html

Acknowledgements
I would like to express our thanks to Dr. H.Higuchi
for his invitation to contribute to this special issue. I
also thank the Office of Wildlife Management, Ministry of the Environment, and Forestry Division, Tokyo
Metropolitan Government, for helpful cooperation.
References
Crow Issues Project Team (2001) The report of crow issues
project team, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo. (inJapanese)
Eguchi,Y., S. Miura and H. Fujioka, eds.(2002) The guide forthe prevention of wildlife harm, Japan Plant Protection
Association, Tokyo. (in Japanese)Endo, K. (1994) Hunting Diary of the Morioka Clan, Kodansha,
Tokyo. (in Japanese)
Environment Agency (2000) Dealing with Urban Crows. Japan
Environment Quarterly, 5(3).
Fukamatsu, N. (1998) The Struggle Story by the Chief of Crow
Section, the Hokkaido Newspaper Publishing Bureau,
Sapporo. (in Japanese)
Japanese Association for Preservation of Birds (1994) The
report of investigation for measures against wildlife harm
(doves and crows). (in Japanese)
Kawachi, H. and H. Endo (2000), Crows and Rats,
Iwanami-shoten, Tokyo. (in Japanese)

Administrative Measures against Crows
Matsuda, M. (1999) Bird Diary in Greater Edo, Kawade-shobo,
Tokyo. (in Japanese)
Mitani, K. and K. Momozawa (2002) On the emergency crownest removal by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, How to
reduce crows in greater Tokyo-Proceedings of the symposia
III and IV. Tokyo Chapter,Wild Bird Society of Japan, Tokyo,
pp.38-42. (in Japanese with English summary)
Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministry of the Environment(2001) The Manual for Solving Crow Issues for Local
Government Officials. (in Japanese)
Nature Conservation Bureau, Environment Agency (2000)
Crows in urban areas -Nuisances and what we can do about
them. (pamphlet in Japanese)
Okuyama, M. (2002) Measures against crows in relation to the205

Wildlife and Hunting Act in Japan, How to reduce crows ingreater Tokyo-Proceedings of the symposia III and IV. Tokyo
Chapter, Wild Bird Society of Japan, Tokyo, pp.38-42. (inJapanese with English summary)
The Editorial Committee of the Encyclopedia of Hunting(1973) Encyclopedia of Japanese Hunting, All Japan
Hunting Club, Tokyo. (in Japanese)
Tokyo Metropolitan Government (2003), web site:
http:// www2.kankyo.metro.tokyo.jp/sizen/karasu/
Tsukamoto, M. (1983) The Politics Concerning the Life.
Heibonsha, Tokyo. (in Japanese)
Wild Bird Society of Japan (2003), web site:
http://www. wbsj.org/topics/karasu/(Received 28 October 2003, Accepted 2 December 2003)