Crow in East Vancouver attack no ordinary bird, cyclist discovers
Crow was raised by humans and is a common fixture around the neighbourhood
A cyclist who was attacked by a crow in East Vancouver has since been reunited with the bird, only to discover it's no common Corvidae.
Steven Huynh's first encounter with the crow didn't go well — he was on his way to work when it flew towards him and pecked at his hand and climbed onto his back.
Huynh had stopped to look at the crow before it attacked him, because he had noticed a man petting it on the sidewalk. After reviewing the comments on his Facebook and YouTube posts of the attack, Huynh decided to return to the site of the encounter.
It was then that he found out the crow has a name: Canuck.
The bird hangs around Cassiar and Hastings streets near the home of Shawn Bergman, who said his landlord's son helped rehabilitate the bird when it fell from its nest, and it's hung around ever since.
"He does just approach people," said Bergman. "He's just really more curious than anything."
Bergman thinks Canuck may have been attracted to the reflective strip on Huynh's backpack when he cycled by.
As for Huynh, no hard feelings.
"After re-looking at it now, it's just like a friendly encounter. It's not an attack at all," said Huynh
Bergman insists he doesn't feed Canuck, but others do. He also said the crow enjoys flying to Hastings Racecourse.
"We're thinking maybe he's got a gambling problem," he said.
Bergman said Canuck is known to have had a few close encounters with his neighbours — not all of them positive.
"I've been told that he's stolen packs of cigarettes, rolling papers, lighters, change, keys ... pretty much anything he can get his hands on," he said.
The BC SPCA says it's illegal to keep indigenous wildlife without a permit.
Bergman says the bird has been returned to the wild and isn't being kept as a pet.
With files from Dan Burritt