The Tale of the Crow Cullers

This day started off like most others, I was walking to the bus stop to hop on the 33 to get to work when all of a sudden, I heard the loudest gun shot ever to grace my ears. I'm talking like Saving Private Ryan war movie loud. I instinctively ducked and covered only to look back and see a huge black crow drop dead to the ground from a tree over the bus stop about 20 feet away from me and a man in camo pants and black tee shirt with a gun. Umm...what? 

After a phone-a-friend to Kathryn, I discovered that I had just witnessed my first crow culling. What is a crow culling you might ask? Let me tell you...Due to strict gun regulations, few Singaporeans own firearms (which is why I thought Singapore was at war upon hearing a gunshot), so the Singapore Gun Club members were the only private citizens in the country that authorities could turn to for help with Singapore's "crow problem". Crows are said to be a plain nuisance in Sing but have also been the culprit of "dive bombings" on Singapore's own. In 2006, at the invitation of the government, volunteers from the Singapore Gun Club culled approximately 1,025 crows. Don't believe me?

This is the site of the culling...in the middle of our neighborhood in a tree right over that bus stop. But the good news is, I can now sleep at night knowing that I will have 1 less chance of being dive-bombed on the way to the bus stop. Now, about the man in camo pants with a gun...

• Singing" "Pumped Up Kicks" -Foster the People