Crow in the office

[urbpan]

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This crow was kept illegally as a pet, and confiscated and brought to a wildlife rehabilitator. The rehabber decided the bird was too imprinted to be released and placed it at the educational center where I work. We are trying to get it to the point where teachers can bring it to schools and such, and use it in educational programs. Its flight feathers are damaged, so it can't fly well, but once it molts it will. I brought it into our office for some exercise and "play time."

Comments

[colinftm.livejournal.com]

It sure is a beautiful crow.
I wish it all the best!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm optimistic about it.

How's the winter in Fairbanks?

[colinftm.livejournal.com]

maybe it's just me, or El Nino...
but this winter has been quite odd. We don't have enough snow, imo. I'll be surprised if the Yukon Quest happens this year.
Thanks for asking! :)

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Have you taught him to type his name?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

That would be fun!

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Poor little guy. I hope its transition is nice and smooth, and not too stressful.

People. *shakes head* I wonder how this one was found?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

It seems to be adjusting pretty well. They are adaptable little birds.

Who knows? Our other crow was caught by a cat when it was a fledgling

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

thank you for sharing. I hope he does okay. Crows are so intelligent. I love the way he cocks his head in the first one, and I can feel the intial awkwardness he feels at being in a new environment, or maybe I am projecting...

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Crows are probably my favorite, because they're so intelligent and adaptable.

[smallerdemon.livejournal.com]

Wow. Beautiful! You can see that crow brain turning over in his head too. He's got smarts written all over him.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

It's a cool bird.

btw, I haven't talked about Life on Mars yet, but I will. We're enjoying it (with some reservations), and we have 2 episodes to go.

[smallerdemon.livejournal.com]

with some reservations

Yeah, there are... constraints that they have with the way the storyline can move, obviously.

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

I knew it was illegal to keep ravens, but not crows. I guess I figured they were considered "trash birds" and you could do whatever you like with them (not saying you SHOULD).

Great videos!

[caladri.livejournal.com]

Nope. You can shoot them, of course, but not keep them as pets. Many people do keep non-native corvids as pets, though.

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

Interesting. So you can SHOOT them, but don't bring one home as a fledgling and be Nice to it.

/head hurts a little
/isn't that also our current policy regarding illegal immigrants?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they have a strange legal status. They are considered agricultural pests in some places, and a few states have "crow seasons" for shooting them.

In Massachusetts you can't own any native bird (pigeons, house sparrows, starlings, pheasants, chickens, parrots and exotic finches are allowed).

[wandererrob.livejournal.com]

That's the trouble with crows. They become tame far too easily for their own good.

I spent a summer interning at New England Wildlife Center many moons ago and was astounded by these guys in particular. It was actually somewhat of a challenge not to let them get too freindly.

[apathy.livejournal.com]

my friend has a pet crow. he brings it to the park to walk around outside for a while, found it on the side of the road with a broken wing.

[apathy.livejournal.com]

oh and he is hardly tame and unfriendly, only to this person.

[tsunami-ryuu.livejournal.com]

Best of luck! Here's hoping he/she/it becomes a great educational outreach bird. He seems to certainly have the potential.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I feel good about it.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

yay - mr crow yay :)

#

[ms-vanilla.livejournal.com]

Corvids are fantastic birds. So clever. All the best, new crow!

[roaming.livejournal.com]

If the crow wasn't being mistreated in the home, I don't see the practical difference in keeping it inside somewhere else, rather than it's "home." Except of course to teach the perpetrator of the "crime" that it's illegal to have one. Other than that, doesn't seem to make much difference: now, though, it doesn't "belong" to ONE person who might love it, but to a few who happen to work wherever it's being kept inside. To my mind, not an improvement in it's home life.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

That is arguably true. I was told it was being kept in a "canary cage," but I have no way of knowing whether that is true or not. What is undeniable is that its legal status has changed. It was an illegal pet, it is now a permitted part of a collection.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

Kind of related to above point...

Isn't it difficult to teach school children why wild animals should not be kept as pets, when one's show & tell example is an animal that's too imprinted to be released?
Or to put the question another way: why is an [imprinted] crow an inappropriate pet?

I ask this out of earnest curiousity.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

1. Hopefully not (I don't do the teaching, usually, we have an ed. dept. for that); but I get your point. I hear many children outside the fox exhibit whine "I waaant one!"

I think the message is "It is unfortunate that this animal must live in captivity because some human took it out of the wild." Likewise, our mammals are imprinted individual whose mothers were hit by cars or killed by dogs--human-caused, in other words. We also make it plain that these animals would not survive being released, and that we have a special permit and special training that allows us to keep them.

Our mission is to "Protect the Nature of Massachusetts," so we would be educating the children about habitat protection, for the most part. "Why wild animals should not be kept as pets," no doubt comes up, but it isn't the primary message. We are fortunate in Massachusetts to have the law underscoring the point.

2. Besides being illegal, not much. If I had all the time in the world, I'd be sorely tempted to have a crow as a pet, and it is legal to own exotic crows. But they are heinously messy and destructive, and need a lot of space. Most people would not be able to take proper care of a crow--this one was allegedly rescued from a canary cage.

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

I always think of ravens as the "big" ones, and tend to forget how large even crows are. And what sturdy legs they have!

[sweetjannette.livejournal.com]

It seems to feel comfortable;)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I hope so :)

[cailin-t.livejournal.com]

i abhor people that think it's okay to do this to wildlife. i'm so glad it was placed.