Dear Editor,

I am writing in as a resident of Toa Payoh Block 86. I have previously given feedback to my town council and NParks quite a few times regarding a bird infestation problem caused by people feeding the birds illegally but it seems that no actions were taken to resolve the problem. There has been a huge gathering of pigeons, mynahs, and crows in the area between noon and 5 pm daily. This has caused an issue of noise by the mynahs and bird shit stains everywhere on the floor and window ledges.

As you can see in my email trail, it is my communication with Toa Payoh Town Council and I have even CC our MP, Dr Ng Eng Hen, in the email but unfortunately, he didn’t respond. As this area has just been through a neighbourhood renewal program, it has been painted with a fresh coat of paint. However, the infestation of the birds has created such a mess and dirtied the area.
The only thing which Town Council did was to engage the cleaner to wash the floor just right before CNY which I appreciated.
I have suggested solutions such as:
1) get someone to approach the uncle and give him a warning not to smoke or feed birds if he wishes to loiter in the area
1) putting up signs to inform that it is illegal to feed the birds and subjected to fine
2) hire NPark or pest control to eradicate the birds
However, nothing was done to date. No signboard for fining illegal bird feeders or actions taken by NPark to get rid of the birds. There are actions that NPark can take such as culling the birds or poisoning them but nothing was done.
Every 2 to 3 days, I have to wash my window ledge as there is so much birdshit on it. This problem (is) caused by people feeding the birds illegally in the area which attracted more and more birds to gather here daily. I am also disappointed that my MP did not instruct the town council to look further into the matter as he has been CC in the email that I have sent to Toa Payoh Town Council. I hope you can write an article about it so that they can wake up their idea and do something before the bird problem becomes worst!
I have attached pictures of the situation to be included in the article,
Best regards,

Kian how

In an update, Ms Sapiah Bte Damari, a Resident Care Executive at Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council responded:

Dear NEA colleagues

Please refer to the details below for your reference and follow up.

Mr Tan has written in an email to feedback on the above-mentioned.

We would be much appreciated if you could kindly revert to Mr Tan on your course of action taken.

Repeated Case.  Central Case ID:  A211231-000114-01.

We will get our conservancy workers to clean-up the birds droppings.

Thank you.

Best Regards


The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore