Nagoya Deploys Hawks to Chase Crows From Marathon Routes
Nagoya is deploying trained hawks to chase away crows from marathon routes during the 2026 Asian Games, as a flock of roughly 1,000 birds has been leaving droppings throughout the Sunnomarui area.
Despite ongoing controversy over the organization of the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya 2026, the host city is making efforts to present the competition in the best light. TV Asahi reports that race organizers have hired hawks to manage bird droppings during the 20-kilometer race walk on September 23 and the marathon on September 27 in the Sunnomarui area of Naka Ward, Nagoya. Hiromoji Uesugi, director of the Naka Ward Civil Engineering Office in Nagoya, explained that crows had turned the area into a roosting ground, gathering in large numbers each evening and leaving droppings everywhere, creating a serious problem. To address this, Nagoya city authorities enlisted hawks, natural predators of crows, in a coordinated operation. A professional falconer was brought in to deploy the hawks against a flock of roughly 1,000 crows. The hawks were trained to swoop at decoy targets resembling crows, creating fear and teaching the birds to avoid the area as dangerous. Although the crows initially scattered, preventing them from returning requires repeated efforts over time. Akiyoshi Wakayama, the falconer managing the operation, noted: "If we don't repeat this many times, they won't remember it as a dangerous place, so we need to keep trying."
