Crowbox for Collecting Discarded Needles

49 views
Skip to first unread message

Jessica Mae Dieter

unread,
Oct 17, 2022, 4:08:26 PM10/17/22
to Crow Box Kit
Anyone know how hard it would be to adapt the Crowbox design to receive needles instead of coins? I live in Minnesota and Minneapolis has a huge problem with discarded needles everywhere because of the drug epidemic. Some friend of mine and I are looking into how hard it would be to design a CrowBox where the crows collect needles and put them in the box instead of coins. It would be a huge help to the safety of people and especially children.

Jessica

Zachary Weindel

unread,
Oct 17, 2022, 4:19:12 PM10/17/22
to CrowB...@googlegroups.com
What about the welfare of the birds?
Do you think it is responsible to reinforce birds to transport sharps or hazardous materials? 

On Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 4:08 PM Jessica Mae Dieter <veldh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Anyone know how hard it would be to adapt the Crowbox design to receive needles instead of coins? I live in Minnesota and Minneapolis has a huge problem with discarded needles everywhere because of the drug epidemic. Some friend of mine and I are looking into how hard it would be to design a CrowBox where the crows collect needles and put them in the box instead of coins. It would be a huge help to the safety of people and especially children.

Jessica

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Crow Box Kit" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to CrowBoxKit+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/CrowBoxKit/308f98b1-c842-4e77-a5b3-5f3d19bb4ea9n%40googlegroups.com.

Jessica Mae Dieter

unread,
Oct 17, 2022, 4:44:57 PM10/17/22
to CrowB...@googlegroups.com
I did think about that but I am not sure if it would be dangerous for them. They might pick them up with no problem or danger to themselves. 

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Crow Box Kit" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/CrowBoxKit/aUI1B3SXs8Q/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to CrowBoxKit+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/CrowBoxKit/CA%2BAxg7szC20XjqdodCitLBr6QOFcP5WZFCQn5sNSDtfXrGJcCQ%40mail.gmail.com.

Adam

unread,
Oct 17, 2022, 4:57:31 PM10/17/22
to Crowbox
Falling needles, doesn't sound fun.

Michael Kapp

unread,
Oct 17, 2022, 4:57:42 PM10/17/22
to Crow Box Kit
Don't forget about the risk to ALL the other animals that walk/crawl on the ground. Seems like it is overall safer to have birds collect it. Especially since crows are intelligent. We have videos of them showing they understand physics (Water displacement). I'm sure they're smart enough to not stab themselves.  

It might be easier to tweak a different design such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oclPZx520k

If you are going to put out money for crow food you might be able to get people do it for the same price. 

Good Luck!
MK

Zachary Weindel

unread,
Oct 18, 2022, 1:16:42 PM10/18/22
to CrowB...@googlegroups.com
Yes, 

You might be able to get people to do it for the same price, maybe with an animal to help sniff them out?

Crows not only retrieve but also stash. If Crows decide the sharps are a currency or as good as food they might stash them in places or fight over them and drop them while fighting over them in flight, or stab themselves with them trying to protect from another crow. I have worked with Ravens and crows one of the ravens I trained did get a hold of a sewing needle once... she presented it to me, it was in her gullet, it did not stab her... but it was sketchy.

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages