Every neighbourhood has one—a cantankerous character who’s equally beloved and feared by the neighbours. But in Hastings East in Vancouver, that character is a crow.
Canuck the Crow has been making headlines regularly over the past couple years (he’s probably most famous for stealing a knife from a crime scene), and most recently, he has come under fire for preventing Canada Post from delivering mail.
Shawn Bergman, who lives at the one of the homes affected and who maintains a Facebook page documenting Canuck’s life, posted about the incident. “Canuck encountered the mail carrier one day and proceeded to bite him a few times causing broken skin and bleeding,” Bergman wrote. “This lasted for a couple of days until Canada Post stopped mail delivery to my home and to two other homes.”
Bergman considers himself partially responsible for Canuck, though Canuck isn’t actually a pet. Bergman’s landlord raised Canuck when he fell out of his nest as a hatchling, and since then, the crow has stayed in the neighbourhood, making friends (and the occasional enemy) in the area.
Besides scaring the local posties, Canuck is known for riding the Skytrain, hanging out at the nearby carnival, and, most recently, checking in at a local McDonalds. But not everyone is a fan of the local celebrity; this spring, Canuck was attacked at a soccer game. Apparently, someone present hit him with a pole, knocking him unconscious. Fortunately, he fully recovered after spending a few days at a Vancouver bird hospital.
Bergman wrote on Facebook that he feels “horrible” that Canuck hurt someone, but also says it’s nesting season and that Canuck has just been following his instinctual drive to protect his nest.
As for Canuck himself, he has yet to apologize to Canada Post for his behaviour.
