Dead Crows in Countryside

[soobet]

While out on a walk, I noticed 5 dead crows tied to a fence by their neck. It is not the first time i have seen this and i have no idea why anyone would do this. Can anyone tell me?

[Ember]

Its a gamekeepers gibbet, I think it's to discourage other unwanted creatures to go near this territory.  The first time I saw this I was a little girl and I like yourself was horrified, I thought some monster was about!

[Clanad]

English rhyme about crows.

One means anger,
Two means mirth,
Three a wedding,
Four a birth,
Five is heaven,
Six is hell
But seven is the devil's own self.

Additonally, a dead raven or crow is seen as good luck, so displaying one (or five) could indicate exceptional good luck anticipated!

[Cetti]

Like ember I saw this as a very young child - and it's horrible. This was quite common amongst the farming community and was done to deter crows and rooks from eating the newly sown crops, but I didn't think  this barbaric act was still  practised.

[woofgang]

I thought that part of the reason for the display was to demonstrate to the landowner that the gamekeeper was doing his job?

[FP]

It is still very prevalent.  One of the barbaric country pursuits that the Countryside Alliance would probably approve of.   I have seen it often and it always horrifies me. 

By the way I am a country dweller!

[soobet]

West Yorkshire. The farmland surrounding the dead crows is moorland with sheep & Game birds. I assume from what everyone has said, the farmer either wants to keep them away from the newly born lambs or maybe they invade nesting grouse or pheasants. Either way I think its a horrible thing to see.... My daughter thought it was some sort of pagan ritual thing. 

[mongos bird]

I've seen it done with moles! Hung up by their wee feet - nasty!

[FP]

Your daughter is about right, soobet.  It is a barbaric ritual that should have died out centuries ago.  It does no good and doesn't say a lot for the people who take pleasure in killing these poor birds.

[cassimer]

This is the kind of question/comment which is going to get you all shouting at me, so please dont be nasty for the sake of it.
I just dont see the problem - it is not barbaric in that they do not leave the crows half dead. They are already dead when tied up, so how is it barbaric? They are truly horrible birds who have been known to kill lambs if given the chance. They are vermin in the countryside, and although I recognise that it doesnt look nice, and should not be done along the edges of public footpaths where children might see it, it is a long practised method. And to say the countryside alliance does this sort of thing, or would bother to support it, is both ill informed and ridiculous. I am neither in the CA or a farmer who does this, but I do accept it as a traditional country method of detering vermin. As said before, it should just not be done where children might be upset to see it.

[FP]

How does it deter vermin?  Do you really think that crows think to themselves 'Ah this is what will happen if I hang about here'?   The hanging carcasses are more likely to attract vermin than deter it.  Vermin will just see 'food.

I never said that the CA does this sort of this - I said they would probably approve of it?  I am not ill informed about countryside matters and I have not made ridiculous comments any more than you have.

I am sorry but I do not see crows as 'horrible' birds.  I do not recognise any animal as being 'horrible'. They do what comes naturally without mallice.  However,  I agree they need to be controlled.

[soobet]

Ok I can see i have a topic here fit for TV viewing. I must admit that everyone who has answered my ? has a valid comment and to an extent i agree with most of what was said.However The latter one has got to be the most valid. Crows maybe vermin to some, but they are still doing what nature intended. And to add to that i do agree that hung there will only entice other animals to feed including foxes who will definatly like a new born lamb.....

[LordyGeordie]

I believe it is done because the farmer/ landowner will pay the shooter per crow or in a mole catchers case per mole.

As farmers are busy people they are obviously not with the shooter while he is out shooting crows so the shooter leaves them in a prominent place, barbed wire fences happen to be perfect for hanging up dead animals. that way when he invoices the farmer for the number of dead crows/ moles, the farmer can come along later and check that he's not lying.

it doesn't look nice i know, but the coutntryside is not a theme park it's a working place. some people seem to forget that

[soobet]

No one is saying that the countryside is a theme park or even likening it to one. I have lived and been brought up in the country all my life but not once have I seen this before. No matter how you look at it. Killing them is one thing displaying them is another, and like I said is only going to entice other animals to the dead carcases. Whatever way you look at it,it is unnecessary and barbaric and on that note I rest my case.................soobet

[FP]

Well seeing as the gamekeepers do it round here and they work for the estate and get a salary, I don't think it's got anything to do with farmer's checking up and paying them per head killed!  I don't think that Lord N who owns and farms the estate around me has the time to go round counting dead animals!

It's just a custom left over from past times - such as the heads of criminals being displayed on the spiked railings on Tower Bridge! 

[flaming]

Other animals and birds are our fellow species.  It suits some members of our species to class some other animals as vermin.  The "vermin" concerned depends on where in the globe one speaks about and what monied venture is being encroached on by animals, as FP points out, doing what comes naturally.  If all other species could voice up they'd probably class us as the worst vermin on the planet taking more than the biggest share of everything there is!  e.g. land, water, other animals' habitats, etc.  That's apart from using our position to actively persecute them for reasons which have nothing to do with survival.  It is our species that has decreed that everything should be for ourselves, taking the view that any other inconvenient species must be "culled".

[soobet]

Flaming... I couldnt agree more.