STRATFORD, P.E.I. — A husband and wife team of vegetable farmers in Stratford, P.E.I., are in a serious battle with an unruly — and hungry — flock of crows, and it’s threatening their livelihood.
Greg and Tanya MacKenzie recently planted two hectares of turnip seedlings, only to discover nearly 98 per cent of their turnip crop had been pulled up by the crows. And now they’re fearful for their remaining crops, too.
According to a story on cbc.ca, they have set up noisemakers in the hopes of scaring the crows away, but MacKenzie is considering more direct measures — he wants to get the green light from town officials to shoot a few of birds, to scare the others.
Incredibly, the farmer believes the crows are getting smarter and figuring out ways to circumvent his protection system. “We had some plants under row covers, and they have since learned how to rip through the row covers to get at the plants underneath to pull those ones out,” MacKenzie is quoted as saying in the story. “It has been a scrambling couple of days here.”
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