Canuck the Crow strikes again
City crows are attracted to shiny objects, a fact that may have contributed to a rather odd incident at a crime scene in Vancouver, British Columbia.
According to local media reports, police responded last Tuesday to a car engulfed in flames in a parking lot, where they were confronted by a man armed with a knife. The police shot at the man, who was treated for non-life-threatening wounds.
A crow later swooped in and picked the knife up from inside the cordoned off crime scene, according to Vancouver Courier reporter Mike Howell, who witnessed the incident.
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"A cop chased it for about 15 to 20 feet, and then the crow dropped it and took off," Howell told CBC.
"It was really strange. In my 20-plus years reporting from crime scenes, I've never seen anything like that crow trying to take a knife."
But this was not just any crow. It was Canuck the crow, who has gained notoriety in Vancouver for his antics, which include attacking a cyclist in the city last year and taking a ride on the SkyTrain earlier this year.
Canuck is easily identified by a red plastic band around his leg.
Though crows are highly intelligent, the motivation behind Canuck’s crime was probably simple.
Wayne Goodey, a zoology lecturer at the University of British Columbia told CBC that crows “might associate a shiny foil with edibles or food wrapping from a restaurant. And they have no way of knowing it's not food until they put it in their beaks."
"It was a crime of opportunity," Goodey determined.
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