Dar es Salaam to poison Indian House Crows

People in Dar es Salaam have been advised to avoid Indian House Crows as the city undertakes its latest attempt to eradicate the growing number of birds.

The crows are being killed with food laced with DRC 1339 poison which the ministry of natural resources and tourism says has no "serious effect" on humans. The poison is biodegradable and kills the crows eight hours after ingestion, with the majority of the birds dying in their roosting areas at night.

Dar es Salaam residents have been advised not to discard food near their homes as this only brings the poisoned birds closer to residential areas.

The eradication project is funded by the Tanzanian government along with Washington aid agency USAID and the Danish and Finnish embassies. Since its launch in December 2010 until March this year, over 890,000 crows have been killed.

Also known as the Colombo Crow, the birds are native to the Indian sub-continent and were introduced to Tanzania after some crows were presented to the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1897.