- Starlicide is best suited for the elimination of the crow as it metabolises rapidly over 10 to 12 hours
- If a poisoned crow is found dead, it can be eaten safely by a scavenger, such as a dog or a vulture
Image: HANDOUT
Plans to eliminate the rapidly multiplying Indian house crow are on course, a technical expert has said.
Dr Mwenda Mbaka, adviser to the team constituted by the state to eliminate the aggressive bird, said they have held meetings and will soon "start to put the poison to kill them".
“We will start by predating. The Kenya Wildlife Service is the one providing oversight; they are doing an excellent job in ensuring that this happens,” Mbaka said.
The chemical Starlicide, used for the exercise, had been brought into the country for efficacy testing and plans are underway to import more.
Efficacy trials determine whether an intervention produces the expected results under ideal circumstances.
Mbaka said the community has been supportive.
Little Kenya Gardens Limited, the company granted the monopoly to import Starlicide four years ago, conducted an efficacy test in 2022.
“The efficacy test was very successful, as close to 2,000 birds were killed during the exercise,” Little Kenya Gardens owner Cecilia Ruto told the Star at the time.
Ruto said she worked tirelessly and followed due process to acquire the license, a process that started in 2015.
“It has been a very long process and it has taken me so many years.”
The testing exercise was conducted in Ukunda and Diani.
Officials from the Pest Control Products Board were present during the testing.
The crows were fed bait meat before the efficacy test was done, Ruto had said, consuming 150kg each day.
This was to train the birds to depend on the meat before it was laced with poison.
A kilo at the time was retailing for Sh580, meaning the crows consumed meat worth Sh87,000 each day, Sh2.6 million a month and Sh5.2 million in the first two months.
On Wednesday, Ruto said they used up the poison that remained after efficacy tests as they have a shelf life.
“We did not want it to stay in storage waiting for more Starlicide to come so we used all of it. We thought we might as well use whatever is available,” she said.
The chemical is being used in Watamu in an ongoing exercise, where she handed over one and a half kilograms a month ago.
“A kilo can kill up to about 10,000 [crows] but depends on how you use it.”
Efficacy also depends on how prebaiting is done.
Prebaiting is meant to attract crows to a feeding site with meat, before embarking on the control campaign using poisoned baits.
“If you feed for one week and you see there are 100 crows, you are likely to kill between 90 and 100 crows,” she said.
Her company makes certain the poison is transported without any hitch and is tasked with ensuring correct use.
“If anything goes wrong, I’m responsible because I’m the one who brought it into the country,” Ruto explained.
Even after handing the chemical to a responsible person, she can still be enjoined in case something goes wrong.
Residents of Watamu, Malindi and South Coast are planning to place their orders.
“It takes time. If you order next week, for example, it takes three months for the poison to get into the country,” she said.
“We will start with that as we wait for the government to fund the process.”
Officials from both KWS and PCPB are on the ground.
PCBP ensures that the product is working well and is being applied appropriately.
House crows are reported to have been intentionally introduced in East Africa in the 1890s.
They were meant to tackle waste challenges in the Zanzibar archipelago.
The bird arrived in Kenya in 1947.
Today, there are thousands of Indian house crows on the Coast, with some sighted inland in Emali.
The crows are aggressive and eat the eggs of other birds and displace them from their nests.
Starlicide is best suited for the elimination of the crow as it metabolises rapidly over 10 to 12 hours and is the only measure that has proved effective.
If a poisoned crow is found dead, it can be eaten safely by a scavenger, such as a dog or a vulture.
KWS has an environmental and social impact assessment licence for a trial of Starlicide in Kwale, Mombasa and Kilifi.
In January 2020, the KWS Board of Trustees approved a "well thought-through plan for a National House Crow Eradication Strategy”.
A “comprehensive five-year National House Crow Eradication Programme” was completed in July 2020.
However, groups such as Watamu Association, have in the recent past urged the state to revoke the licence given to Little Kenya Gardens, saying the company has not been active in the crow eradication programme.