Wildlife group wants ravens declared pests

Ravens may be renowned in poetry, horror movies and aboriginal folklore, but in Saskatchewan they're not getting much love these days.

Rural communities, trappers and the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation are lobbying the province to take the crow-like birds off the list of protected species and declared pests.

That would allow people to kill ravens, the same way they are currently allowed to kill crows, magpies and gophers.

Those who consider the ravens pests note the bird's population is up and they are destroying crops. There are also complaints they're damaging fur-bearing animals in traps and could be injuring livestock.

"There's lots of stories of ravens poking at the eyes of newborns and that sort of thing," said Darrell Crabbe, a spokesman for the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.

The SWF has repeatedly asked the province to take ravens off the protected species list, but the province has refused, saying there's not enough evidence the birds are doing damage, Crabbe said.

However, studies have shown that ravens are just as harmful or even more harmful than crows to ground-dwelling birds, Crabbe said.

"They're a very, very intelligent bird and take advantage of every opportunity and start to prey specifically on ground-nesting birds," he said.  "Obviously their numbers have increased dramatically and we should be taking steps to control those population levels."

Farmers can now get special permits to kill ravens, but only if the birds are doing significant damage to livestock or crops.