At the 716th Annual Crowference of the Immodern Era, the CEO
(Crow Executive Officer) made the keynote speech at the conference on Food Self-Sufficiency:
Cocks and hens, I’d like to welcome all Jungle Crows to the 716th
Crowference on Food Self-Sufficiency, and especially those who have flown all
the way from the Northern, Southern, Western, and Eastern roosts to be here
with us in the Central Capital Roost today. Over the next few days we will be
hearing about developments in our settlements nationwide from our newly-elected
delegates, but I will concentrate my talk on the situation here in the capital
region in my capacity as CEO for the CCR, and because this is the main theme of
our meeting today.
Firstly, let’s make sure that we understand the meaning of food
self-sufficiency, since it is often misunderstood to mean something else. Food self-sufficiency
for the Jungle Crow community means the amount of food resources in a given
region that can sustain the carrying capacity in that region, without the inhabitants
resorting to encroachment into other regions for the purpose of gathering,
predation, or scavenging. The biggest challenge for us here in the Central
Capital Roost, especially in the urbanized sections, is how to maintain our
present supplies of food from anthropogenic sources, in light of the
socioeconomic trends of the past couple of years. Our food from plant matter
remains at a constant level and we have no great problems in this area.
Predation is also brisk, since, for example, the populations of beetles and
mantises do not show any signs of decline. At the same time, improvement in the
natural environment has ensured a stable supply of frogs, sparrows, rats and
mice, snails and earthworms.
The problem that we must all overcome is the steady decrease in
food from human-related sources. This, thankfully, is not happening everywhere,
so we need to increase our hunting efficiency by being more selective in both
our methods and our places of activity. Till now, our greatest sources of
anthropogenic food supply were: garbage in plastic bags, picnic areas
(including outdoor gatherings, such as at festivals and beer gardens in
summer), and places where people feed birds and fish. One potentially
disturbing trend is that there is simply less food in garbage bags. The
increase in ready-made meals has meant that vegetable peelings and meat
trimmings have become scarcer. Moreover, humans appear to be more frugal
nowadays, owing to the state of the economy. As a result of the recent increase
in consumption tax, humans are not spending as much as they used to and have
thus reduced their food budgets. Another unfavourable aspect of recent years is
that there have been stricter controls on feeding birds and fish, which has
meant a significant reduction in pickings for scavengers at recreational
locations, especially in the big city parks. Yet another unwelcome element is
the increase in the number of homeless humans. They often loiter outside
restaurants and supermarkets and get to the choice pickings in the waste bins
before us. It always astonishes and surprises us how little care is shown by humans
towards their own kind - but I’m digressing here
On the other wing, I’m glad to report that there have also been
some beneficial developments for our clans. In the past, food scraps dropped
intentionally or unintentionally could only be found in specific places at
specific times: in parks at human lunch-time, picnic and barbecue spots,
festival sites and outdoor cafes. Moreover, it was not easy to procure
nourishing food scraps because of the vigilance and aggressive attitude of the
humans taking part in these activities. In recent times, however, we have been
fortunate in that the humans have not been bothering us to the same extent as
previously, opting instead to stare for long periods at machines held in front
of their faces. This has also allowed to us to get closer even to babies and
the morsels they drop; but beware of getting close to pets, especially small dogs, as
this can provoke extremes of aggression.
In our studies and subsequent analyses, we have also noticed some
changes in recent human behaviour, again a plus for our food-scrap gathering
activities. Humans seem to be less concerned about their behaviour in public
than in the past, with the result that they now snack in public more openly, a
present-day phenomenon practiced more by the female of the species for some
reason, probably as a result of abatement of gender-biased criticism of female
conduct in front of others. This means, of course, that there are more scraps
ready for picking in places more barren in the past: date spots, fashionable
streets, station platforms, and outside schools and colleges (if we could only
get into buses and trains!). Our observations have shown that the increase in
snacking in public places is related to the prevalence of some kind of angst
among humans today. They always have to be doing something; they cannot relax
for even short periods of time, unless transfixed to the machines in front of
them. So eating in transit is a satisfying method of assuaging impatience and
frustration. Some analysts have termed this phenomenon as “scared of doing
nothing,” others call it “the can’t wait mentality,” but I digress here again.
To sum up, in order to maintain sustainability of future
generations, we must review our food gathering methods and policies to solve
the problems facing us, and to exploit the new and ever-changing opportunities that
present themselves in our hunting grounds. We need to continue our awareness
and understanding of the changes in human behaviour, and we must act and plan
in ways that are most beneficial for the Jungle Crow community. With effort and
courage, I’m sure that we will be able to maintain, and even raise, our level
of food self-sufficiency in the years to come.
