Wild Means Wild

When Carmen Smith got the call from a local man threatening to kill a raven unless she came and got the bird, the Best Friends licensed wildlife rehabilitator wasted no time in getting in her car. Physically, there was nothing at all wrong with the raven, but he was proving to be a nuisance to the man’s family. The bird kept stealing shiny objects and getting way too close to his family. The man feared sooner or later someone was going to get hurt.
Apparently, the raven was well known around the man's neck of the woods. The trouble started when a neighbor attempted to tame the bird. Carmen says this particular man was feeding the raven "copious amounts of food," making the bird comfortable with being around humans. The raven, of course, being a raven, didn’t stick around his would-be tamer's yard, but roamed the neighborhood, settling for a time in the angry caller's domain.

The story of this particular raven is a cautionary tale: Never try to tame wildlife. Not only is it dangerous for the animal, but it could be dangerous for the people who come in contact with the animal. Wild animals should always have a healthy fear of humans, and teaching the animal otherwise could very well lead the animal into conflict with humans that might result in injury (or worse) to the person, the animal, or both.

"Also, there's no guarantee," Carmen says, "that the animal you tame is going to be treated safely and kindly by the next person he interacts with."

Once she establishes that the raven has the social skills (raven social skills, that is) and foraging skills he needs to survive, Carmen will take the raven somewhere far, far away from civilization, and release him back into the wild where he belongs.

Story by Ted Brewer
Photos by Gary Kalpakoff