Trapped raven lives to fly again
Around 7:30 p.m. on July 3 Delores Analoak looked out her window across Seppala Drive and saw a raven flapping around the top of a utility pole. It was trapped, snagged by the foot. Analoak called the police, she called NJUS. At the same time Denise Michaels was calling for help and also posted a photo of the trapped bird on Facebook. The bird’s friend, perhaps its mate, stuck close by, cawing and sounding the alarm.
The pole holds a light which illuminates the tank farm on Seppala Drive. Close inspection with a telephoto lens showed one talon of the bird’s foot was caught where two wires are spliced together. No matter what trick the raven tried it could not free itself. Most of the time it hung upside down, once in a while trying to get upright and then falling back into the hanging position. Analoak spoke to the bird in a soothing voice, promising help was on the way.
Interim Mayor John Handeland, who is also NJUS general manager, arrived in his pickup with a ladder and a long pole with a hook on the end. Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Bill Dunker was already there observing. He’s the area biologist for the Seward Peninsula. Dunker and Handeland first tried with the stepladder and the long pole and determined they needed a longer ladder. So off they went to get one. With the bigger ladder, Dunker was able to climb up to the bird, which was cawing and flopping around. But once the biologist had the bird in hand, it calmed down. Down on the ground Dunker examined the raven and once he was satisfied it had sustained no serious harm he set it gently on the ground. It half walked, half hopped its way to a stack of building material which it climbed and appeared to be resting to shake off the bad experience. It had been hanging upside-down for over three hours. The leg that had been trapped was injured and the bird limped slightly. Its mate perched atop one of the fuel storage tanks and called to it. After five minutes the raven leapt into the air and flew up to the tank.
It is said ravens recognize individual people and remember them. As this raven flies around the port and the neighboring area it will recall it’s snagging and the Nomeites who took time out of their busy preFourth of July schedule to free it.