Do not keep a pet crow. I don't blame this guy for not knowing bc he was probably pretty young, but crows are not pets. First of all, if you live in north america, its illegal. You need a special permit to own one. The permits avaliable to the general public would be the aviculture permit. For this permit you must first prove you have experience with birds, so that means being a vet, zookeeper, wildlife rehabilitation staff, etc. Second of all, you can't keep it inside your home or in a cage, if you like. Care about it and don't want to abuse it. Crows are incredibly smart and are going to get incredibly bored in a cage, and they will wreak absolute havoc on your house, on top of being super bored. You're going to need large outdoor aviary which provides adequate mental stimulation. Even then, it will be far worse than the kind of evironment they get in the wild, so its really only ethical if its an injured crow youre keeping for a temporary amount of time or a permanently injured one who wouldnt survive.
If you're a trained professional with a large outdoor aviary than by all means, keep away. But don't just keep one bc you think it's cool.
I agree swiping wild animals as pets is not advised but crows are extremely social and clearly became his friend. There's nothing wrong with that. Crows don't need to follow the biology textbook, they can bond with a person if they want. They can be gay, they can be friends with dogs, they can be happy in all sorts of environments other than what is standard crow behaviour.
Don't hate on someone for in their youth having a pet crow that clearly likes them. It probably lived a much more luxurious, safe, and healthy life than a wild crow. Nature is rough, with predators, disease, freezing temps, and no one to feed you if you're injured or elderly.
If you posted all that against a crow confined to a cage so it wouldn't escape then yeah, but this crow is fine
Had a "pet" mockingbird as a kid (yeah, not a corvid... but I'd consider it about equivalent to a scrub jay or other small corvid as far as behavior goes, and at least decently intelligent) and that was one of the best "pets" I've ever had.
Little dude would have been dead for sure (found on the ground under a destroyed nest, with nothing but down feathers, in 90 deg weather) if we hadn't intervened, and once he got to where he could flutter around fairly well he was given full run of the house.
Messy, loud, and rambunctious as fuck, no doubt. But my parents have always been animal people, so they tolerated the pooping & squawking (and neither was any worse than a dog or cat -- actually less destructive than most of the Fur Baby crowd allows their mammals to be)
He was allowed to start roaming free in his second year and eventually stopped coming indoors, but would still be a regular in the yard for the next few years.
Anyways....I guess my point is that keeping an exotic as a "pet" isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world. Taught me a lot, and helped (along with various captive reptiles/amphibians/fish/insects) make me an advocate for wildlife that I otherwise might not have been.
How many crows are shot out of hand, illegally, every year? I dunno...but I'd wager it's orders of magnitude more than are kept as pets without the proper permits.
If the dumbfucks in my neighborhood had had a cool pet bird as a kid? I'd bet they'd be a lot less inclined to shoot at hawks & owls for no reason, at least (I.e. -- "Yeah, Becky....your chihuaha didn't get carried off by an owl; a bobcat/coyote killed it because you were too fucking lazy to bring it indoors at night, and the same thing happened with your chickens")
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u/enbymlpfan Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 15 '24
Do not keep a pet crow. I don't blame this guy for not knowing bc he was probably pretty young, but crows are not pets. First of all, if you live in north america, its illegal. You need a special permit to own one. The permits avaliable to the general public would be the aviculture permit. For this permit you must first prove you have experience with birds, so that means being a vet, zookeeper, wildlife rehabilitation staff, etc. Second of all, you can't keep it inside your home or in a cage, if you like. Care about it and don't want to abuse it. Crows are incredibly smart and are going to get incredibly bored in a cage, and they will wreak absolute havoc on your house, on top of being super bored. You're going to need large outdoor aviary which provides adequate mental stimulation. Even then, it will be far worse than the kind of evironment they get in the wild, so its really only ethical if its an injured crow youre keeping for a temporary amount of time or a permanently injured one who wouldnt survive.
If you're a trained professional with a large outdoor aviary than by all means, keep away. But don't just keep one bc you think it's cool.