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Warning over crow attacks
By Luke David And Katharine Barney, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 10.06.05
Justin Keay was left with a blood-spattered shirt.
Joggers are today being warned about violent crows in London parks after an attack left a man bloodied and needing hospital treatment.
Justin Keay was swooped on by two crows in what experts have called a severe case of "mobbing" - where two or more birds gang up on an assumed predator to keep them away from their young.
Now other runners are being told to stay well away from fledgling crows to avoid further attacks.
Mr Keay today told how he was running his usual route through Battersea Park when the birds swooped on him. The crows clawed his head with their talons and pecked at him furiously.
With blood gushing from his head, he had to fight for several minutes before they would stop attack - reminiscent of the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds.
Mr Keay, 44, who was attacked at lunchtime on Wednesday, said: "These two massive crows just swooped down on me. I hit them but they wouldn't get off my head.
"They kept on at me and I kept hitting them until I noticed blood was pouring down my neck. My T-shirt was drenched with blood."
Mr Keay was so shaken by his ordeal he went to the park police, who gave him antiseptic wipes and sent him to Chelsea and Westminster hospital for an anti-tetanus injection. "They said it was the first occasion they'd heard of anyone being injured," he said.
The father of two, from Battersea Church Row, said he jogs past the same crows every day.
"They're big and look really menacing," he said. "They have swooped at me before but this was totally different. I had to hit them off me."
Although it is extremely unusual for crows to attack humans, joggers are now being warned to be extra vigilant.
Stephanie Fudge, of the Wetland Centre in Barnes, said Mr Keay was probably close to the bird's fledglings, which may have fallen out of a nearby nest.
"It is quite common at this time of year for fledglings to try to fly," she said. "There was probably one about somewhere nearby which he was not aware of.
"Runners should be extra careful at this time of year. Crows can be aggressive - as these two have shown. If a jogger sees a baby crow they should stay well away."
Joanna Leonard, an interior designer, saw the birds - which she thought were ravens - in the same place an hour after their attack on Mr Keay.
"I thought they were very nasty, sinister things."she said. "Two of them focused in on me as I walked past. I couldn't help thinking of that Hitchcock film."
Mr Keay, a father of two young children, added: "What really worries me is that it could happen again - and it could be a lot worse if the crows attacked children. They could literally have their eyes out."
A spokeswoman for Wandsworth council, which is responsible for the park, said: "We will be talking to bird experts to see if it is a more widespread problem. If it turns out there's any need to alert the public we will do so."
Reader views (20)
I looked up in google about crows attacking as i think everyone thought i was going crazy when I told them I was swooped at and chased by 2 crows yesterday. We've always known magpies here in Qld for attacking, but never crows. I was out for my usual jog, and had even passed quite a few people on the way, and as I was coming back up the same way I had gone down, I felt something swoop past me, I looked and saw it was a crow, so laughed at myself thinking it was just flying past, and than, it came at me again, and agian, so I started running faster and faster, than a second one joined in, and this went on for about 100m....even when magpies swoop, its only until your away, but these crows kept coming, and even after I had crossed the road, so I went further across the road and they stopped. It scared the crap outta me, and now after reading everyone elses stories, I'm a little worried about going that way at all now, as I think they'll remember me and attack again, and next time they might actually hurt me.
- Nicole Maggs, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
I cycle to work every day, part of my journey takes me over a bridge, over a freeway. At about the middle of the bridge a crow starts to swoop at me and follow me down to the bottom, cawing at me all the way. One day I thought, " I've had enough of this", So I shouted back at him "ARRRRRRGH". What a mistake, the crow went ballistic. The cawing became far more intense,( letting me know that now he really means business) and this time it followed me down well after the bottom of the bridge, trying to peck and claw at me all the way.
On my way home, (a good Eight hours later) there he was waiting for me, sitting on top of the traffic lights, well before the bridge, and so the motorists and other passers by were able to witness an evening performance of the same spectacle.
And so it continues, day after day.
- Peter Benholm, Melbourne Australia
Well my crow story go like this. Me when I go outside you can see a lot of crow around my house on the tree and when I walk to my aunts house they follow me. Then you see that they waiting for me. When I go back to my house you see then coming back to my house. And my mother don't belive me. When my mother come outside there are not there and they are quiet. I want to know what will happen next to me. 
- Natasha, lakeland, florida
Today as I was walking to work I got attack by a crow. I have no idea why I walk the same path EVERYDAY and this has never happend to me before, I've never even heard of this happening. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced. I was just walking and all of a sudden a crow started stalking me, swooping down at my head and pecking me when he got close enough. I am so scared of crows now I hope this never happens again
- Hates Crows, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
If any body is interested, i have been woken up every morning at approx 4.oo oclock with crows flying at my windows, attacking the windows with their feet , claws, beaks and wings, the attackes are so ferocoius that they are drawing blood which then runs and splatteres over the window. There are a family
My windows are dirty, then i cleaned them and the attacks still continue.
The noise is terrible,
i am now overtired and grumpy.
Has anybody any idears , other that a 12 bore.
- Sharon Gresham, Brill, Bucks
Me and my friend were walking down the main road that is right beside a graveyard. Then behind us about 20 yards we seen a girl being swooped down be two circling crows.They tried several times attacking the girl before we chased them off.That was shocking seeing the little girl getting attack by crows like that.
- A Witness, Manitoba Canada
While walking in North East part of Calgary in an industrial Park, I was attacked by a crow, which swooped down over my head just missing me by inches. The crow did this for 1 1/2 street blocks until I got to the building I was going. Believe it or not, I left the building 1/2 hour later. The same crow in a tree in from of the building just sitting there. People where walking about parking there cars and walking about, the crow did nothing to them. When I left the building the crow again swooped-down on me and did this for the 1 1/2 blocks until I got back to my car. These birds smarter than we think.. I was waiting patiently, until I left the building to attack me, so it had to know it was me by the white coat I was wearing, or something. The world is a weird place..and nature is in control. cheers!
- Len Villemaire, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Today i went to the park to walk my cute dog. As i was recahing it, on the road was standing a tiny crow, eventhough my dog passed him and smelled him and i passed by him, he didnt make a move, so i tied up my dog and tried to see what was wrong with that crow. It started making a tiny sound it was really cute, then i stroke him and was trying to put him somewhere else than on such a busy passage, two crows started shouting at me, so loud that people would turn their head, i pushed the bird through the railings of the park so it could be safer, the other two birds started flying over my head and shouting louder than i thought was possible, i ended up sitting down on a wood table so i could keep an eye on him, the two big birds went into the tree above my head and started picking leaves out of the trees and dropping bird poos on me. The leave s were falling all around me. When i decided to get closer to the birds and them shouting and flying at me i looked at the little crow and he had his eyes closed and looked so weak, but i knew it was a sign for me to get away from him. So i left, and wished him not to die like this. Then i typed on internet and i am reading you guys story and realise i was very very close to being attacked. PFWAW!!
- Karima, London England
Running through Tooting Common this morning, I was attacked by a large crow. I was running the usual route that I take alongside the train tracks on the far side of the park. The bird dive bombed me and kept trying to peck at my neck from behind as I ran. I had a hat in my hand and was furiously waving and shouting at it, but it would not relent. The attack aventually stopped about 16 seconds later when it flew into a tree and looked down on me squacking. Very frightening!!
- Ruth Murphy, Tooting Common, London
I got attacked by a crow this morning outside a park near Old Street in London. It followed me down the road dive bombing my head, which someone on the other side of the road found very amusing.
- Tim Whitwell, London England
I have just heard that my 7 year old grandson was attacked by several crows in Coleraine after he saw what looked like a sick bird on the ground. He went over to it and was then set upon by these birds who must have had an interest in the bird as carrion... His friend managed to get him away without them both sustaining any real injury. The incident left my grandson quite shaken...
- Paul Goodall, Portadown, N. Ireland
I've never heard of humans being attacked, but we do have a bird called a magpie that frequently dive-bombs unwary people walking too close to their nests. Children have been blinded occasionally by these birds.
Geoff.
- Geoff O'Callaghan, Toowoomba Qld.
I saw alot today. One was right near my driveway when I came home. They warn us of danger. I will feed them if necessary. They don't scare me.They make me feel safe.
- Pastor Donna, Williamstown,Mass.USA
I just had a similar encounter as Lee Sutton! happened 45 min ago. a big black menacing crow first flew past my head, and i involuntarily ducked, and he missed me and he landed on a tree branch. i was crossing the overhead bridge near my house (lotsa trees in this area). then when i was halfway thru the bridge, he suddenly swooped down at me pecking at my neck. fortunately, i have long hair and i defended myself vigorously. i walked on, thinking that maybe it was a mistake and he just flew off course. then the 3rd and final most vicious attack of all....he swooped down and attacked me for the 3rd time and vicious this time...i screamed with all my might and defended myself vigrourously. then i quickly rushed down the staircase. when i reached home, i realised he had (either his beak or his claws) clawed me slightly on my lower leg.........my gosh! soooooooooo scary!
- Vanessa, singapore
I think the crows are getting their own back for all the years of humans shooting at them on farms! And I do not blame them!
- Chantelle Lan, London, England
Not once but five times, other people walk same way as I do but one of the crow started to attack me, I don't know why? Is it because of the cloth I m wearing or why? Why me, why not others?
- Shish Roka, merrylands 2160, NSW, Australia
I was attacked by a crow today. It swooped on me as I rode my bike. I alighted and walked with the bike but the crow would fly to the nearest tree in whichever direction I was walking. When I turned my back on the crow after 2 minutes it swooped on me again just missing me as I bent down. After staring it out and moving away from trees it eventually left me alone. I can only presume it was protecting its young.
- Lee Sutton, Bicester
There are a few crows outside my work in Huntington Beach that are so aggressive, they swooped on me during both my office breaks the other day. I used a jacket against them on their second attempt and it seemed to work. I just had to make sure I didn't turn my back to them.
It wasn't a pleasant experience. There are quite a few elderly people nearby. I think it might be time to call the local animal control.
- Winston, Southern California
Local crows have developed a taste for the rubber door seals on my 3 month old Jaguar x-type. We have been set upon twice in 4 weeks and at 40 pounds a seal we are not amused.
- Garry King, Ipswich, England
I get attacked every morning by the same crow along a road I need to walk down. I'm regularly left in tears running up the road. On several occasions it has chased me to repeat the attatcks. I've tryed walking on the other side of the road but everyday without fail it trys to get me, I have been that frightened that I have got my boyfriend to walk me to work and it still chased me up the road, my boyfriend now sees I'm not crazy. I'm sure what I should do.
- Ashleigh Page, Lincoln, England
