North Battleford city councillors once again voiced concern at their meeting Monday about the issue of ravens in the city.
The black birds have been showing up more and more in the city limits, and residents have been voicing numerous complaints that have made their way to council.
What’s more, the city’s animal control is running into its own issues dealing with the situation. City Manager Randy Patrick reported they are actually having to resort to using a pellet gun within the city limits to shoot at the ravens. He made clear they are seeking alternatives.
“We think it’s unsafe having to do that,” said Patrick, who said they didn’t want to use guns in the city at all.
He said they would like to talk about the problem with council at a future meeting, and set up a proper program to deal with the birds. It is too late for this year because the birds have already hatched, but the hope is to have something in place to deal with the ravens for 2021.
It was Councillor Kelli Hawtin who raised the issue Monday, seeking a follow up to a similar concern raised by Councillor Kevin Steinborn at a previous meeting.
Steinborn said he is still receiving plenty of complaints about the birds showing up in neighbourhoods. It was also noted they were a threat to other wildlife.
“I’ve seen them with little baby robins, stuff like that,” said Steinborn.
Patrick said the ravens are particularly noticed near restaurants, grocery stores and other large buildings, where they converge on food items dropped on the ground.
They also congregate around garbage. It was noted the ravens were particularly noticed back in the days when there were larger open dumpsters situated in the alleys, but those have been replaced by the smaller black carts.
