Ravens delight in driving canines delirious
Phil Duffy
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 18/01) - Many people complain about ravens, but if dogs could talk they would probably swear a graphic blue streak that would make a grizzled prospector blush.
From sitting on the fence and teasing dogs, to organizing a tag-team to distract and trick them out of their food, ravens have been tormenting canines since the first time the two animals ever came in contact with each other.
Joanne Kelly has owned dogs for 15 years and has been mushing her sled dogs for 10 years.
"Ravens are pretty cagey birds, no matter when I decide to do it, they instinctively know when the dogs are about to be fed and they are lined up on the fence waiting," she says.
Ravens have earned a reputation of being brash and bold, and they do whatever it takes to maintain this notoriety.
"I remember one time, before I had a roof on my puppy-pen, this raven had flown in and was eating some of their food. One of the puppies took exception to this and decided to confront the raven. The raven grabbed ahold of the puppys' nose and I had to run in there and physically remove the bird from the poor, screaming little dog," said Kelley.
Groups of two or more ravens will split into teams to get a dogs food. One or more ravens will draw the dog away from its' food by taunting it, while the remaining bandits will swoop in for a quick meal.
Sometimes a single raven will pretend its' found something special to draw the dog away, only to fly over to the food dish for a couple of quick beak-fulls once the dogs' curiosity gets the better of it.
"I've seen a raven and a dog have an actual tug-of-war over a dish of dog food," said dog owner Guy Kennedy.
Ravens are so successful at stealing a dogs' food that many people have given up feeding their dogs outside. "My dog is a puppy but when she is older I will try to teach her about the tricks a raven will try to pull on her," said dog fan Andrea Kewley.
Some dog owners who have no choice but to feed large dogs outside provide the ravens with a meal of their own to keep them occupied while their dogs eat.
