TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)— Here is an interesting fact: under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, it is illegal to hunt, kill, capture, or sell a crow or other migratory birds. However, a murder of crows can cause a host of problems and a new program in downtown Terre Haute is keeping the flocks flying along with the help of a laser system.
This laser system is on the roof of the Sycamore Building in downtown Terre Haute and it will shoot a green laser at certain buildings in downtown Terre Haute that crows persistently roost on during the winter months. One of the buildings is the Hulman Center, as the city and Indiana State are trying to work together to deter the crows from downtown as well as ISU. Executive Director of Campus Facilities, Operations, and Maintenance at ISU, Jim Jensen, knows a laser like this can benefit both the city and ISU at the same time.
“It was important for Indiana State University to have a seat at the table,” Jensen said. “With the chamber to see what they are doing and then work together on the overall downtown and Indiana State University campus crew control efforts to keep them out of the downtown area and off ISU’s campus is very important for everyone.”
Detering the crows away can improve the downtown lifestyle in Terre Haute.
“You’ve got to keep the crows moving, you don’t want them to roost,” Jensen said. “Everybody knows what kind of a public health issue that causes and just an absolute mess that it causes when you have crows roosting.”
The laser was installed by Wild Goose Chase and will help get rid of the crows safely and legally, but in a different way than what the city has done in the past.
“It’s illegal to kill the crows,” Jensen said. “So you just want to keep them uncomfortable and keep them moving, and the laser is a very humane way.”
“It’s something different, you know, crows are very smart birds,” Director of Strategic Programming of West Central Indiana Partnership Jonathan Eilbracht said. “We have the wavy men downtown, the businesses have the spikes on top of them, but, you know, we’re trying to do something different that they’re not used to and to kind of scare them away from the rooftops to stop them from roosting downtown.”
The laser will move in different intervals and times to try and outsmart the birds.
“They would figure out the pattern, you know, if it went, you know, if one through fourteen,” Eilbracht said. “If it was going 1,2,3,4 down that way, they would know. At this time, it’s going to be on section one, we’ll go hang out on fourteen. So that way, when it pops around, they’re not able to kind of anticipate where it’s going to be and so that they’re less likely to roost in certain areas if they don’t know where it’s going to go.”
This laser will help annoy the crows so that they will not want to come back to that building and it will not harm them in the process. The laser will also not interfere with daily life in downtown Terre Haute, nor hurt any humans as long as they don’t look directly at the laser while it is in use.
“Wild Goose Chase programmed it so they, you know, are the professionals that programmed the laser,” Eilbracht said. “They obviously came here to do the site visit and made sure that it wasn’t shining in windows, shining on any reflective surfaces, you know, cars, windows, anything like that. So definitely it is a potential worry of the residents, of course, but the way that Wild Goose Chase programmed it shouldn’t be that issue to even have incidental eye contact.”
Wild Goose Chase can come adjust the laser if needed during the winter months by changing the brightness of the laser and where the laser is being pointed at, if needed. It will be taken down in March to help prolong the life of the bulb in the laser. The laser will be active every day from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. during the winter months before it is taken down in March.
