Waterloo Is Trying To Scare The Crap Outta Crows

Officials say that there are somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 crows that have made Downtown Waterloo their home. City officials are tired of the plethora of crow droppings that these pests leave behind.

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According to a report from the Courier, the city of Waterloo is making its last stand against the crows that have become a fixture in the area over the years.

A few of the previous strategies used by the city include: officers firing shotguns into trees, and leaving dead crows or effigies in popular trees. Clearly, neither of those tactics are working, so officials for the city of Waterloo are calling in the big guns: the USDA.

The United States Department of Agriculture is teaming up with the city of Waterloo to humanely get these birds the frick outta here. Late last year, the City Council struck up a $70,000 agreement with the USDA to "mitigate crow issues in the urban properties designated by the City of Waterloo," according to council documents.

$20,000 went to the USDA Wildlife Services for one year of service starting on January 1st of this year. The remaining $50,000 went towards Avian Engineers for three weeks of service.

On Monday, January 3rd, reports claim that the USDA actually started work on their yearlong attempt to tackle the crow problem in the city. As of right now, they are using the same sort of tactics that the city has used before.

However, USDA officials plan to initiate the use of something called "electronic scare devices." The gameplan is when the crows are resting after a long day of just...terrorizing Waterloo, the noise device, as well as fireworks, and pressurized air will scare the crows out of the downtown area.

An example of a similar pressurized air device can be found below.

Thus, scaring the poop outta them.

These strategies are going to be implemented full force during the winter time, since crows  congregate the most in the winter.